The Officialish FOFC Weight Loss Dynasty

[hoopsguy]

Congrats, Blackadar - very cool milestone.

[Kodos]

Nice. I just got under 200 a few weeks ago myself. Trying to get to 170.

[Radii]

Congrats Blackadar and Kodos!

I've come to the conclusion with my doctor that the 25 pounds I pretty quickly lost towards the end of last year happened almost entirely from getting some shit in my body regulated that was very messed up. Weight isn't dropping without concerted effort past that, and that's understandable because my diet is still horrid.

That leaves me debating with myself about what to do next... do I work harder to try to gradually cut down on some of my worst habits, or do I try to make some very major cold turkey wholesale changes.

My decision making is kinda paralyzed right now. With small changes I fear they have no long term impact, I am a pretty strong believer in the idea that I am addicted to sugar in the true sense of the word addicted, and just "having less" but still feeding the addiction is just not a good idea for me. At the same time cold turkey is scary b/c it signifies a big effort with big risks (and bigger costs). I've been reading a book called "The Blood Sugar Solution" which talks a lot about food addiction and all the horrible stuff we all know already about processed foods and preaches heavily about how *quickly* one can become much more healthy with major changes, and its very tempting and motivational. I've just been so overweight for so long I am having a hard time improving my outlook and seeing my efforts as a chance to make a positive change for myself instead of "another likely incoming failure"

Anyway, just rambling, seems like the right place to do so.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Radii

Congrats Blackadar and Kodos!

I've come to the conclusion with my doctor that the 25 pounds I pretty quickly lost towards the end of last year happened almost entirely from getting some shit in my body regulated that was very messed up. Weight isn't dropping without concerted effort past that, and that's understandable because my diet is still horrid.

That leaves me debating with myself about what to do next... do I work harder to try to gradually cut down on some of my worst habits, or do I try to make some very major cold turkey wholesale changes.

My decision making is kinda paralyzed right now. With small changes I fear they have no long term impact, I am a pretty strong believer in the idea that I am addicted to sugar in the true sense of the word addicted, and just "having less" but still feeding the addiction is just not a good idea for me. At the same time cold turkey is scary b/c it signifies a big effort with big risks (and bigger costs). I've been reading a book called "The Blood Sugar Solution" which talks a lot about food addiction and all the horrible stuff we all know already about processed foods and preaches heavily about how *quickly* one can become much more healthy with major changes, and its very tempting and motivational. I've just been so overweight for so long I am having a hard time improving my outlook and seeing my efforts as a chance to make a positive change for myself instead of "another likely incoming failure"

Anyway, just rambling, seems like the right place to do so.

No, it's all good. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another, but if you don't mind I have a couple of suggestions.

1. Book - "Skinny Chicks Don't Eat Salads." Weird, but of all the diet books I've purchased, there's some basic information (like how to divide up your plate of food) that was presented in such a way that it clicked with me. You can get it new for under $10.

...and better yet...

2. MyFitnessPal (iPhone & Droid App). In February I started using this and have lost 27 pounds in less than 3 1/2 months, which is an amazing weight loss for me. I told the app what I weighed, how much I wanted to lose per week (I chose 1 pound and do NOT generally count my workout calories) and it gave me a calorie count I could have every day. Then I just plug in everything I eat (it has an extensive food database) and try not to exceed the calories recommended. It's almost a bit of a game for me now. It was a major eye opener as to what I could and couldn't eat to stay under my caloric goal.

For example, I was shocked to learn that a simple peanut butter & jelly sandwich on white bread had as many calories as about 8oz of marinated pork roast. That I could have 3 fun sized 3 Musketeers bars for the same calories as a quarter cup of my trail mix. That from a caloric standpoint, KFC original recipe chicken wasn't as bad as a serving of my wife's lasagna. It was tough at first trying to find alternatives, but I'm better able to choose foods that won't kill my diet, even when I'm on the road. So when I went to Sonny's BBQ last night (and didn't have my phone with me), I was able to order something I liked (chicken & pork combo) and eat well, but still stay reasonably around my daily calorie count. Before that app, I would have chosen the wrong thing, thinking it was probably ok, and consumed far more calories.

So that's how I've done it. And I've been overweight for a long time - often I've been physically fit, but I've been quite overweight. Now that's coming off every single week to the point that my goal is to now weigh less than when I got married 20 years ago - when I wasn't overweight. And for the first time ever, I think that's an achievable goal.

[Kodos]

The movie Forks Over Knives (see thread in general discussion Forks Over Knives (Or, the Western diet vs. a plant-based diet) - Front Office Football Central) helped push me toward a diet that is loaded with fruits and veggies, nuts, and fish (instead of chicken and beef). I also massively reduced my intake of soda and unhealthy snacks. At weigh-in tomorrow, I should break 20 pounds lost since mid-November. Most of that is due to diet, as my exercise has been hit or miss.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

No, it's all good. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another, but if you don't mind I have a couple of suggestions.

1. Book - "Skinny Chicks Don't Eat Salads." Weird, but of all the diet books I've purchased, there's some basic information (like how to divide up your plate of food) that was presented in such a way that it clicked with me. You can get it new for under $10.

...and better yet...

2. MyFitnessPal (iPhone & Droid App). In February I started using this and have lost 27 pounds in less than 3 1/2 months, which is an amazing weight loss for me. I told the app what I weighed, how much I wanted to lose per week (I chose 1 pound and do NOT generally count my workout calories) and it gave me a calorie count I could have every day. Then I just plug in everything I eat (it has an extensive food database) and try not to exceed the calories recommended. It's almost a bit of a game for me now. It was a major eye opener as to what I could and couldn't eat to stay under my caloric goal.

For example, I was shocked to learn that a simple peanut butter & jelly sandwich on white bread had as many calories as about 8oz of marinated pork roast. That I could have 3 fun sized 3 Musketeers bars for the same calories as a quarter cup of my trail mix. That from a caloric standpoint, KFC original recipe chicken wasn't as bad as a serving of my wife's lasagna. It was tough at first trying to find alternatives, but I'm better able to choose foods that won't kill my diet, even when I'm on the road. So when I went to Sonny's BBQ last night (and didn't have my phone with me), I was able to order something I liked (chicken & pork combo) and eat well, but still stay reasonably around my daily calorie count. Before that app, I would have chosen the wrong thing, thinking it was probably ok, and consumed far more calories.

So that's how I've done it. And I've been overweight for a long time - often I've been physically fit, but I've been quite overweight. Now that's coming off every single week to the point that my goal is to now weigh less than when I got married 20 years ago - when I wasn't overweight. And for the first time ever, I think that's an achievable goal.

Good advice, the calorie counting thing was really a turning point for me too. If you hit your calorie goals the weight is going to come off, period (obviously there's more to nutrition, but sometimes you need to focus on jumpstarting the weight loss). And I found myself saying, "shit, I don't want to waste 240 calories on this 20 oz coke, I'd rather save those and have a bigger lunch." And at the same time, the occasional coke was OK, I was just accountable for those calories. The weight just melted off when I focused on calories, and now it's so much easier to have more advanced nutrition strategies, and trying to make the coke and booze even more rare.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Kodos

The movie Forks Over Knives (see thread in general discussion Forks Over Knives (Or, the Western diet vs. a plant-based diet) - Front Office Football Central) helped push me toward a diet that is loaded with fruits and veggies, nuts, and fish (instead of chicken and beef). I also massively reduced my intake of soda and unhealthy snacks. At weigh-in tomorrow, I should break 20 pounds lost since mid-November. Most of that is due to diet, as my exercise has been hit or miss.

I haven't seen the movie and I probably should, but I have read through that thread. The nutrition recommended in the book I'm reading is fairly similar, just not totally vegan, add in some fish and skinless chicken as well. One of the posts in the forks vs knives thread contains the following statement: "People who switch to this kind of diet can almost immediately make themselves essentially heart attack proof". The Blood Sugar Solution discusses similar things for diabetics, that issues and the need for medication can be completely reversed very very quickly, in a matter of days for some. That's just too appealing to not look into seriously.


Have any of you made big overhauls like this without your household changing? Any recommendations on how to deal with it? There IS going to be soda in my house, there is going to be ice cream, chips, processed microwave meals, there is no possible way to change that, and that concerns me a bit.

[Alf]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

2. MyFitnessPal (iPhone & Droid App)

Long time lurker here, but since I got myself a droid phone, your post about this application made me try it. Let's see if I can get into a routine there and at least get "conscious" about what I eat.

I've been at 88-90kg for approx 10 years now (with a couple of years down to 85) while I am 183cm high. Since I resumed playing basketball a couple of years ago, I would be way better with some weight off.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Radii

Have any of you made big overhauls like this without your household changing? Any recommendations on how to deal with it? There IS going to be soda in my house, there is going to be ice cream, chips, processed microwave meals, there is no possible way to change that, and that concerns me a bit.

To some extent. There's a couple things you can do:

1. Think about what has to be taken away. That list should be relatively small, but there's always going to be a few foods that are just irresistible. Those have to be removed. In my case, those snack foods were Combos, chocolate bars, ice cream and donuts. I'm not going to be able to pass those up, so they had to be removed from the equation without question.

2. Think about what you can substitute. Ice cream is a huge problem for me. But I can sub in Italian Ice cups at 100 calories each and get the same general satisfaction. Instead of full blown chocolate bars, a couple of Hershey Kisses can do the trick. Instead of milk, Vanilla Silk is a much tastier and less caloric option.

3. Measure your food. A common cause of overeating isn't necessarily eating something, but eating too much. A bowl of Fruity Pebbles is a wonderful fix for a sweet tooth, but it's tempting to put in 2 cups into a bowl and fill it with whole milk. Uh-uh, that's 500 cals. 1 cup and a half of cup of Silk is just under 200 calories. That's doable.

4. ADD choices. Yeah, add stuff to your pantry. If some things have to be removed and some things can be substituted, it stands to reason some things can get added. Get 2-3 types of apples and find a favorite (or two). Have a drawer full of oranges, grapes, pears, apples, etc. so you're not limited to just one type. Buy 3 or 4 different types of soup so you can pick one. It's not about reducing choices, it's about changing them so they're all winning selections.

5. Find a way to eat raw veggies. Nothing will fill you up for fewer calories than a plate of raw veggies. Get used to it. Oh yeah, no Ranch dressing either.

6. Don't snack - or at least plan your snacks. Weekends were toughest, when all that food was at my beck and call at 10 AM or 2 PM. So I'd plan on a mid-afternoon snack and the calories I'd consume. So instead of reaching for the chips and salsa (350 calories combined) during the afternoon, I'd get my prearranged banana, piece of cheese or pudding cup that I'd been planning since morning.

7. Don't count calories ahead or behind - play it day by day. If I want to cheat, I make sure I burn off enough calories that day to afford to cheat. So this Saturday when I want pizza, I won't count the 700 calories I have left today towards that pizza. I'll earn my pizza calories by hiking and/or working out AND eating right the rest of the day so I can blow 1,500 calories in a meal and still hit my target calories for the day. Earn the splurge.

8. Easy way of dropping calories - drink water. Yeah, it takes a week or two to get used to the taste (or lack thereof), but liquid calories are entirely wasted, empty calories. And when you only have 1,760 per day, there's not any you can afford to waste.

[corbes]

Good start Alf! We'll be waiting for an update.

[sabotai]

So I just watched this episode of 20/20 that was all about weight loss. One of the segments was on the feeding tube diet. They get 800 calories a day, and boast that people have lost up to 20 pounds in 10 days.

What they don't tell you is 20 pounds of what. To lose a pound of fat, you need to burn 3500 more calories than you use. -500 a day, that's a pound of fat a week (I know, it's not that simple, it depends on how active you are, some of it will/might be muscle loss, etc. etc. I'm just simplifying the math).

In order to lose 20 pounds of body fat, you need to burn 70,000 calories more than you take in. To do that in 10 days, and assume a person burns 2000 calories a day (after all, someone on this feeding tube diet probably isn't at the gym 1 hour a day, 5 days a week, so 2000 a day seems to be about how much a sedentary person would burn just to run their organs, go about a normal day, etc.), that person would need to use 9,000 calories a day. That is not happening.

When your body breaks down muscle, it's getting 600 calories per pound*. To lose 20 pounds of muscle mass, you need to burn 12,000 calories. To do that in 10 days, you'd need to be burning 1200 more calories than you take in. As it turns out, 2000 calories burned for a fairly sedentary individual minus 800 taken in with the feeding tube equals 20 pounds of muscle in 10 days.

Like I said, it's not nearly that simple. The person surely lost a bit of fat, some of those 20 pounds is from have little solid waste in their system, etc. But the point is, those people did not lose 20 pounds of fat in 10 days, they predominantly lost muscle mass.

That sounds like coming up with a chess strategy that's designed only to capture as many of your opponent's pieces as fast as possible, instead of focusing on the objective. It completely misses the point. The goal of weight loss shouldn't really be weight loss, it should be fat loss.

That's why these quick weight loss diets do not work. Not really. The cleanses, liquid diets, feeding tube diets, etc.. All of these diets that severely restrict caloric intake over a short period of time "work", in that you will lose pounds a day for a few days or a week, but that weight is from lack of solid waste and muscle loss.

Something that a lot of people don't take into consideration is the food you eat has weight, and that weight is added to you when you eat it. It sounds silly to say it or read it. It's so self evident. Of course that weight is now in you. But people don't think about that when they eat or weigh themselves (nor should they, I'm just bring up the point when talking about these liquid diets.) If you weigh 240 pounds, then eat 1 pound of bananas, you now weight 241 pounds until your body breaks down that 1 pound of bananas, uses what it needs and discards the rest. These quick diets "work" because you aren't eating solid foods for several days, and your body "loses" the pounds of food that are no longer going through your system.

If someone shovels 5 pounds of food down their throat, then starts a feeding tube diet and suddenly weighs 5 pounds less 2 days later, they jump up and down over losing 5 pounds in 2 days! Yeah, technically they lost 5 pounds. But all they really did was lose 5 pounds of poop.

Plus, now you're burning muscle, not fat.

The point of this rant is....well, there's not really a point. Just wanted to vent a bit over something I saw on TV. And to illustrate that there are no real short cuts to losing body fat, which should be the actual goal of weight loss. You need to be active, you need to eat right, and you need to change your lifestyle, not go on a diet, if you want to lose body fat.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and try to actually do that myself (It's one thing to know what you have to do.....)



* - The best figure I could find is 600 per pound when you burn muscle. It's a bit tricky to google for, because there's two different discussions on it. How many calories does it take to put on a pound of muscle (best answer: 2500. Some calories for the actual muscle you're putting on, the majority is needed just for the energy to run the process of building the muscle) and how many calories you gain from burning a pound of muscle (I have found anywhere between 500-1000, but 600 seems to be the most common figure for it, so that's when I went with).

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by sabotai

Stuff.

That's good stuff, sabotai, though I think you're being a bit too harsh. Crash diets lead to instant weight loss for a number of reasons. It's easy to shed 10-20 or more pounds for very large people, but it's a combination of:

1. If someone has been eating 3000-5000 calories per day (which isn't hard), then dropping to 1,200 (or fewer) is going to result in close to a pound lost per day. Essentially, by consuming 4,000 calories a day, the person is artificially keeping their weight high. When they drop to around 1,200, then the delta is virtually a pound per day and the body will lose weight quickly.

2. A lot of the weight loss is in water retention. Most people who are consuming high calorie diets are also eating a lot of salt and retaining water. Improve the diet to reduce salt and people can lose 5-10 pounds in water weight alone. This isn't a bad thing.

3. Fat loss. Fewer calories means that people will lose fat.

4. Muscle loss. Anything under 1,500 for a normal man or 1,200 for a small woman is considered a "starvation diet". That will directly lead to muscle loss and eventual weight retention as your body starts holding on to every bit of food because it's not getting enough. So I entirely agree that a 800-cal diet just isn't good for you because generally these types of starvation diets slow the metabolism and can increase overall weight gain. Not to mention that they're not sustainable and that the punitive nature of such a diet makes it even more difficult to stick to.

So yeah, I'd expect someone who is obese to lose 20-30 pounds in 10 days on such a diet. That can help jump-start the weight loss process and that may just be enough for their knees/hips/ankles to sustain a normal workout and lead to further weight loss. Also, since such change is very visible, that may provide the incentive for the person to lose weight. But I generally think Crash Diets aren't good because they teach the person the wrong habits rather than the ones needed for a long term weight loss program. Not to mention that staying on one for any length of time can actually do damage and work against further weight loss.
---

Oh, and my weight...197.5 this morning. It should be even less, but I'm still waiting for the 2.5 pound rack of ribs I consumed on Saturday to wind through my system.

Yeah, that was my reward for hiking 10.5 miles.

[DaddyTorgo]

Really guys? Far too long without updates in this thread!

I had a momentary blip earlier where I was up in the 180-181 range for a couple weeks (I think it was tied to changes in my exercise, because my diet has stayed the same).

Safely back down to the 176-180 range now though. Was 177.something this morning, which is right where I'd expect to be on a Thursday morning.

Really feel like I've maintained this for long enough now that I'm not in huge danger of slipping up and gaining all the weight back...which is really a huge weight off my shoulders (pun somewhat intended).

Now to read back and see what you all have been up to...

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Radii

I haven't seen the movie and I probably should, but I have read through that thread. The nutrition recommended in the book I'm reading is fairly similar, just not totally vegan, add in some fish and skinless chicken as well. One of the posts in the forks vs knives thread contains the following statement: "People who switch to this kind of diet can almost immediately make themselves essentially heart attack proof". The Blood Sugar Solution discusses similar things for diabetics, that issues and the need for medication can be completely reversed very very quickly, in a matter of days for some. That's just too appealing to not look into seriously.


Have any of you made big overhauls like this without your household changing? Any recommendations on how to deal with it? There IS going to be soda in my house, there is going to be ice cream, chips, processed microwave meals, there is no possible way to change that, and that concerns me a bit.

What Blacky said about some things just having to be removed holds true.

Also - your family should be supportive and enable you to remove those things. If not, you may have to guilt-trip them into it.

I like to "find a little cheat" for myself on a daily basis. We're talking little. Like I used to have a serious sweet tooth - I'd sit there and eat a bag of those candied orange slices no problem. Now my "daily cheat" that I allow myself is one of the snack size (50 calorie) York Peppermint patties. I take grandma-bites and really savor it, and that satisfies my sweet tooth.

Raw fruits and veggies are great.

I like to get myself into a "routine" so that my body knows what to expect on a daily basis - when I'm going to fuel it...what (roughly) it's going to get. But as I've mentioned in the past - I'm very routine-oriented, so this is a natural thing for me, and helps me to stay on-point.

[DaddyTorgo]

You all are doing awesome - some good progress being made in here - and some new faces, which is great to see!!

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Really guys? Far too long without updates in this thread!

I had a momentary blip earlier where I was up in the 180-181 range for a couple weeks (I think it was tied to changes in my exercise, because my diet has stayed the same).

Safely back down to the 176-180 range now though. Was 177.something this morning, which is right where I'd expect to be on a Thursday morning.

Really feel like I've maintained this for long enough now that I'm not in huge danger of slipping up and gaining all the weight back...which is really a huge weight off my shoulders (pun somewhat intended).

Now to read back and see what you all have been up to...

Gratz DT!

I'm still hanging out at 197 for the last week or two. I guess it's just a normal plateau at this point after losing 28 pounds in 3 1/2 months. I'm sticking with the "diet" (you know, normalizing my eating habits) and working out, so I'll just trust that it'll start falling off again soon.

[Blackadar]

At 195 today, so hopefully I've broken the plateau and can get the weight loss moving in the right direction again. Two weeks with no results gets frustrating.

[MacroGuru]

Still hovering around the 200 mark, I am making my push this week to get me below it. I need to focus on the water more as I strayed from it again.

Eating Healthy 90% of the time, the 10% is my off day and I think it helps me focus for it all.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Still hovering around the 200 mark, I am making my push this week to get me below it. I need to focus on the water more as I strayed from it again.

Eating Healthy 90% of the time, the 10% is my off day and I think it helps me focus for it all.

Are you using anything to track your diet/calories?

I've been astounded with MyFitnessPal at the calories in some stuff. I've been using it for 4 months and I'm still amazed sometimes.

For example, Moe's Southwestern Grill...the guys were going there today and someone was asking about the calories in those. He's trying to lose weight and the way to do that is to count calories. Another guy replied that the Joey Bag with chicken on the whole wheat wrap was fine. A quick check on MyFitnessPal says...no.

The whole grain wrap? More calories than their normal wrap. The chicken? More calories than the pork, steak or ground beef. So the "healthy" choice runs you 810 calories (with more saturated fat), than the steak on the regular tortilla (750 cals). Drop the tortilla altogether and that steak one is down to 480 cals - very manageable on a diet.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

Are you using anything to track your diet/calories?

I've been astounded with MyFitnessPal at the calories in some stuff. I've been using it for 4 months and I'm still amazed sometimes.

For example, Moe's Southwestern Grill...the guys were going there today and someone was asking about the calories in those. He's trying to lose weight and the way to do that is to count calories. Another guy replied that the Joey Bag with chicken on the whole wheat wrap was fine. A quick check on MyFitnessPal says...no.

The whole grain wrap? More calories than their normal wrap. The chicken? More calories than the pork, steak or ground beef. So the "healthy" choice runs you 810 calories (with more saturated fat), than the steak on the regular tortilla (750 cals). Drop the tortilla altogether and that steak one is down to 480 cals - very manageable on a diet.

Yeah...I have plateaued because of lack of exercise of late. I have slacked there. Diet has been right where I need it to be for maintenance. It's time to knock it down again...

[Blackadar]

Looks like I may have punched through that plateau. 193 yesterday, 192.5 today.

[Kodos]

I've been stuck at 196-198 for quite a bit. I need to bite the bullet and get into a regular exercise routine, but that means either starting workouts at 9:30 or 10 at night, or getting up an hour early to do it before work.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I've been stuck at 196-198 for quite a bit. I need to bite the bullet and get into a regular exercise routine, but that means either starting workouts at 9:30 or 10 at night, or getting up an hour early to do it before work.

I do the latter. There's no way with the wife/kids that I can reserve my nights to working out. Not to mention that I'd be drop-dead tired starting, up late cooling down and it would cut into my gaming time.

So I'm up at 5AM every day to get the workout over and done with before the wife/kids wake up. Another advantage is that it's cooler during the summer if you want to start jogging.

[Blackadar]

It looks like I really did punch through that plateau.

189.5 this morning.

I have to figure on leveling back out again - that's down almost 5 pounds in two weeks which isn't sustainable - but it was daaamnnnnn nice to see that number this morning.

[DaddyTorgo]

Nicely done Blackadar.

Maintaining still over here. 179, so maintaining a bit higher than maybe I would typically WANT to maintain (177), but that's acceptable.

First doctor's appointment in 2 years on Monday. Wonder if I'll give the doc a heart attack? Gonna be fun to get all new baselines for all my bloodwork and stuff.

[Radii]

7/1/11: 350
12/1/11: 340
1/3/12: 330
1/14/12: 326.5
1/28/12: 329
2/21/12: 327
3/19/12: 326
6/30/12: 321.6

After being quite stagnant for the last few months (but not gaining anything back so there is that) I've made some more progress. Its been a week now since I've had any caffeine. Hand in hand with my issues losing weight and getting more healthy, I've been hooked on regular sodas since I was in my teens and countless attempts to remove/reduce them from my diet have failed. The longest I've gone without is ~3 months. Here's to making this time last infinitely longer. Anyway, dropped 4 pounds last week and I seem to be past the point of caffeine headaches and the like. I see my Dr for another checkup in about a week and a half, will check back in then most likely.

[hoopsguy]

Back to the spreadsheet for me - weight has crept up a bit since hitting 40 in March.
- I've put on 5-7 pounds since I stopped tracking
- I had gotten back to 2 cans of Coke/day, but in last couple of weeks have that back to 1/day and have had a couple of days without. Should have this shored up by end of July.
- Looking to more or less remove the "casual drinking" around the house. If I'm having wine/beer I want there to be a (legit?) reason for it much more often than not
- prior goal was 165, this time around want to hit 160 by end of the year.
- today's weigh-in was 171.5.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Radii

6/30/12: 321.6

Well that 321.6 was an anomaly, maybe due to a few 100+ days in a row or something, I dunno. Its been 323.5ish every day for the last week, but that's ok.

2 weeks without a soda now, all water except for a couple glasses of orange juice, and the last 4 evenings straight I've been out for 20-30 minute walks and worked up a really good sweat. 3 days of headaches and another week with long periods of fogginess, but that's all gone away. My focus/ability to concentrate has gone way up (I didn't even realize this was a big problem, but it *really* was). My energy level has been much more steady throughout the day, I've quit sodas before but the impact has been way different this time, or maybe I'm just more aware, I don't know.

The biggest thing I've noticed is that my blood sugar isn't spiking after meals very much. Instead of blood sugars of 200-250 after a meal I'm seeing 140-165, almost like someone who isn't diabetic.

My appetite has been pretty big without the calories from sodas, and I haven't been fighting that too terribly hard, but I have been making sure to have a couple pieces of fruit a day and to drink tons of water. I haven't had any cravings for sodas yet but I know they'll come. I'm writing this stuff down and trying to really savor the ways that I feel better right now compared to 2 weeks ago to try to keep the willpower up as high as possible when I do feel those cravings.

I was hoping to have like 10 pounds instantly fall off and that hasn't happened, but I know it'll come.

[Radii]

delayed dola,

I saw my Dr today, bloodwork looks very good. He had me stop taking one of my blood sugar meds the last time I saw him to see how I'd do and that's now officially a permanent change. I'm still taking one med for blood sugar, one for cholesterol, and one for blood pressure, but I'm on the lowest available doses of all three. Its possible at this point that if i can make the no soda thing stick that I could maybe get off of all meds towards the end of the year. That's my current biggest goal at least!

[Alf]

Congrats for that last update Radii.

[Radii]

7/1/11: 350
12/1/11: 340
1/3/12: 330
1/14/12: 326.5
1/28/12: 329
2/21/12: 327
3/19/12: 326
7/18/12: 320.8

Got rid of the previous numeric update b/c it was just a 1 day anomaly, this one seems legit though based on the last few days.

3 1/2 weeks without soda now and doing just fine with it. I'm into my 3rd week of consistent exercise, only missed two days due to extreme heat. I'm just taking walks, but the starting point was completely 100% sedentary. First week most days I went 15-20 minutes and *really* had to push through the back pain in the last 5 minutes. The second week its been 25-40 minutes and a couple days I've walked some of the hills in the neighborhood for some added intensity.

I've been eating better without really making a huge effort to do so, spinach salad (I love raw spinach) with lunch and dinner and eating a couple pieces of fruit every day and have cut the fast food in half.

The first 2 1/2 weeks or so with no soda my weight didn't really drop any and that was a bit frustrating, but it seems like the scale is starting to move now, hooray! I haven't been below 320 in 5 years, I'm really looking forward to seeing 319.x on the scale hopefully soon.

[Kodos]

That's great. Keep it up, Radii!

[Subby]

Originally Posted by Radii

7/1/11: 350
12/1/11: 340
1/3/12: 330
1/14/12: 326.5
1/28/12: 329
2/21/12: 327
3/19/12: 326
7/18/12: 320.8

Got rid of the previous numeric update b/c it was just a 1 day anomaly, this one seems legit though based on the last few days.

3 1/2 weeks without soda now and doing just fine with it. I'm into my 3rd week of consistent exercise, only missed two days due to extreme heat. I'm just taking walks, but the starting point was completely 100% sedentary. First week most days I went 15-20 minutes and *really* had to push through the back pain in the last 5 minutes. The second week its been 25-40 minutes and a couple days I've walked some of the hills in the neighborhood for some added intensity.

I've been eating better without really making a huge effort to do so, spinach salad (I love raw spinach) with lunch and dinner and eating a couple pieces of fruit every day and have cut the fast food in half.

The first 2 1/2 weeks or so with no soda my weight didn't really drop any and that was a bit frustrating, but it seems like the scale is starting to move now, hooray! I haven't been below 320 in 5 years, I'm really looking forward to seeing 319.x on the scale hopefully soon.

Pulling for you. Doing great!

[Radii]

Weight keeps fluctuating between 320-322, my sleep schedule is really sad right now so I am weighing myself at random times after random amounts of sleep, often times having eaten something way later at night than I wanted to or intended to. That'll be the next thing that I want to tackle and improve I'm quite sure. Probably one of the most difficult things for me to manage after the sodas as well, I work part time at home on my own schedule and need to respond to mom and dad when some health thing happens, which is very frequently (2-3 times a week in a good week), and if something happens at 4am, so be it.

Despite "the number", I feel really good and took some good steps this week. Continuing the walking every night, my pace has increased slightly as has my distance, lasting 35-40 minutes more often than not.

I started two other new things this week. I signed up for myfitnesspal and started entering everything I eat into that. It puts me at 2380 calories per day to lose 1.5 pounds per week, and I've had no trouble staying within that range. Looking at what I eat I'm *very* sure that even after I stopped drinking sodas I had some random 4500-5000 calorie days without even realizing I was doing it. Another step to keep things more steady here.

I also started up the hundred pushups/200 situps/200 squats programs that I assume most everyone here are familiar with (Hundred Pushups). I'm at a point now where I often feel like I have the energy and desire to do a lot more than my body can handle, and don't want to risk overdoing it, the pushups and squats seem like a good solution to that, something very productive and free to help my progress without going crazy and hurting myself.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Radii

Weight keeps fluctuating between 320-322, my sleep schedule is really sad right now so I am weighing myself at random times after random amounts of sleep, often times having eaten something way later at night than I wanted to or intended to. That'll be the next thing that I want to tackle and improve I'm quite sure. Probably one of the most difficult things for me to manage after the sodas as well, I work part time at home on my own schedule and need to respond to mom and dad when some health thing happens, which is very frequently (2-3 times a week in a good week), and if something happens at 4am, so be it.

Despite "the number", I feel really good and took some good steps this week. Continuing the walking every night, my pace has increased slightly as has my distance, lasting 35-40 minutes more often than not.

I started two other new things this week. I signed up for myfitnesspal and started entering everything I eat into that. It puts me at 2380 calories per day to lose 1.5 pounds per week, and I've had no trouble staying within that range. Looking at what I eat I'm *very* sure that even after I stopped drinking sodas I had some random 4500-5000 calorie days without even realizing I was doing it. Another step to keep things more steady here.

I also started up the hundred pushups/200 situps/200 squats programs that I assume most everyone here are familiar with (Hundred Pushups). I'm at a point now where I often feel like I have the energy and desire to do a lot more than my body can handle, and don't want to risk overdoing it, the pushups and squats seem like a good solution to that, something very productive and free to help my progress without going crazy and hurting myself.

Awesome, keep it up.

I've gotten to the point that I like taking the body out for a "test drive" and seeing what it can do. I'm now often pleasantly surprised that I can do something. Just got back from Yosemite and hiked 15 miles one day. I couldn't have done that just a few months ago.

I went on vacation for 2 1/2 weeks and the ole' diet suffered greatly. I gained about 5-6 pounds, which I suppose wasn't too bad. I know I lost a bit of muscle at the same time, so the fat gain is probably close to 10 net pounds. I'm back in the saddle again and we'll see how quickly it comes off.

[Brian Swartz]

Here we are again. Time for me to jump back into the fray here. Looked up my last update which was Jan. 23rd, a couple pages back. That's just over six months ago. Yikes.

Anyway, shortly after that my regular schedule got blown up, as I took on a new responsibility(directing the praise team at the church where I worship). The massive time required at first justified a brief pause ... but I never got back on the wagon despite a few very short-lived attempts.

My consumption of completely unhealthy food in the last month or so has been absurd, and the only exercise I've been getting regularly is table tennis with my brother and work. Ahem. So, from 307.4 on Jan. 23rd, I reached a new personal high(not a good one) about two weeks ago of 335. I've done moderately better the last couple weeks in the eating category and have been holding steady the last few days.

Current weight is 328.4, or 21 pounds exactly above where I was. Sleeping habits, eating, exercise habits all need to be re-formed again. For the next week, my goal is to sleep and eat right and do my stretching/core exercises -- no cardio yet until I get the basics under control.

Good job to those of you keeping at it in this thread, esp. Radii! .

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Good job to those of you keeping at it in this thread, esp. Radii! .

Thanks man, and good luck getting back on it yourself!


For my update this week:


7/1/11: 350
1/28/12: 329
7/18/12: 320.8
8/4/12: 318.2

After 3 weeks seeing the scale bounce between 320-323 I finally saw a bit of progress on the number, for the first time in years under 320. Onward to 300! Still doing well with the calorie counting, and I'm still doing fairly well with the exercise, I had a number of days in a row this week where I had a lot of stomach problems and that slowed the exercise a bit, no issues today though so i'm looking forward to a long walk once it gets down into the lower 80s outside.

[DaddyTorgo]

Maintaining...assuming I can make it another...3 months (?) that will be 12 months of "maintaining."

Beating the odds...booya mothafucka!

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Radii

Thanks man, and good luck getting back on it yourself!


For my update this week:


7/1/11: 350
1/28/12: 329
7/18/12: 320.8
8/4/12: 318.2

After 3 weeks seeing the scale bounce between 320-323 I finally saw a bit of progress on the number, for the first time in years under 320. Onward to 300! Still doing well with the calorie counting, and I'm still doing fairly well with the exercise, I had a number of days in a row this week where I had a lot of stomach problems and that slowed the exercise a bit, no issues today though so i'm looking forward to a long walk once it gets down into the lower 80s outside.

Way to go Radii - how you doing man?

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Here we are again. Time for me to jump back into the fray here. Looked up my last update which was Jan. 23rd, a couple pages back. That's just over six months ago. Yikes.

Anyway, shortly after that my regular schedule got blown up, as I took on a new responsibility(directing the praise team at the church where I worship). The massive time required at first justified a brief pause ... but I never got back on the wagon despite a few very short-lived attempts.

My consumption of completely unhealthy food in the last month or so has been absurd, and the only exercise I've been getting regularly is table tennis with my brother and work. Ahem. So, from 307.4 on Jan. 23rd, I reached a new personal high(not a good one) about two weeks ago of 335. I've done moderately better the last couple weeks in the eating category and have been holding steady the last few days.

Current weight is 328.4, or 21 pounds exactly above where I was. Sleeping habits, eating, exercise habits all need to be re-formed again. For the next week, my goal is to sleep and eat right and do my stretching/core exercises -- no cardio yet until I get the basics under control.

Good job to those of you keeping at it in this thread, esp. Radii! .

How you doing with your mission for the week Brian?

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Back to the spreadsheet for me - weight has crept up a bit since hitting 40 in March.
- I've put on 5-7 pounds since I stopped tracking
- I had gotten back to 2 cans of Coke/day, but in last couple of weeks have that back to 1/day and have had a couple of days without. Should have this shored up by end of July.
- Looking to more or less remove the "casual drinking" around the house. If I'm having wine/beer I want there to be a (legit?) reason for it much more often than not
- prior goal was 165, this time around want to hit 160 by end of the year.
- today's weigh-in was 171.5.

Haven't hit this thread in awhile, but July wasn't a super-diligent month. Eating patterns were better, nothing else substantially changed. I've been fluctuating between 169-170 for the past couple of days. That is encouraging because I've reversed the slow slide upwards, yet there are still a number of steps I can take to introduce meaningful change that should only accelerate the modest progress of the last 30 days.

[Brian Swartz]

Fair -- I gained about a half-pound, not sleeping very well, sometimes eating/exercising well and sometimes not.

[Ksyrup]

Finally trying to get myself back on track. I suck.

[sabotai]

I suppose it's time for me to give it a real go again for the umpteenth + umpteenth time...

I gained 5 pounds on vacation. The silver lining is that my body fat % dropped over 1 percent, so I guess all that walking put on a few pounds of muscle to my legs. A few more pounds of fat to lose, a few fewer pounds of muscle to gain.

I'm at 245...the highest I've been in 2+ years (and close to my highest ever, 247.x). I just can't shake these fucking migraines. I feel like i've had one for a month (part of the reason I drank so much in Chicago. Kinda don't care about the migraine when drunk off your ass. ).

[Comey]

So I've dropped 110 pounds over the last year+ (280>170), and now sit between 168-174, depending on variables. I feel as though I've lost some motivation lately, and while I haven't really crept back up (I run and bike like a fiend, though I haven't hit the gym as much lately)), I wanted to say this:

You guys are true motivators.

Your hard work helped me when I was starting this in earnest last August. And while I've generally been a lurker, I've been a rooting one.

Keep on fighting the good fight. You're all an inspiration to me.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Comey

So I've dropped 110 pounds over the last year+ (280>170), and now sit between 168-174, depending on variables. I feel as though I've lost some motivation lately, and while I haven't really crept back up (I run and bike like a fiend, though I haven't hit the gym as much lately)), I wanted to say this:

You guys are true motivators.

Your hard work helped me when I was starting this in earnest last August. And while I've generally been a lurker, I've been a rooting one.

Keep on fighting the good fight. You're all an inspiration to me.

Way to go man!! That's great!!

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Comey

So I've dropped 110 pounds over the last year+ (280>170), and now sit between 168-174, depending on variables.

I haven't checked in here recently, holy crap this is amazing, great job

[Radii]

7/1/11: 350
1/28/12: 329
7/18/12: 320.8
8/4/12: 318.2
9/11/12: 312.5

I do not understand my body one damn bit, but ok, awesome. I hadn't weighed myself in about a week and a half going into last week, expected to see 320, saw 312ish, assumed it was an anomaly, but for the last few days in a row that's where its been sitting, so hooray!

Basically the only thing I've done consistently is stay off sodas. That's monumental, I don't mean to downplay it, but in my first couple months off sodas it seemed like I couldn't get the scale to move like I'd hoped after making that major change.

I'm still not eating "well", but I'm still eating infinitely better than I was 4 months ago. I'll eat out a number of times a week, but 4 months ago I ate out more than once a day on average, and now its definitely less than once a day, but not by a lot.

I had a flu/cold thing week before last and a chipped tooth leading to major dental work that had me feeling fairly miserable for the last 5 days or so, both of those things helped justify doing jack shit for the last 2 weeks or so.

Current goal is to get back to the consistent exercise I was doing for awhile that has tapered off recently, especially now that the weather is nicer.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by Comey

So I've dropped 110 pounds over the last year+ (280>170), and now sit between 168-174, depending on variables. I feel as though I've lost some motivation lately, and while I haven't really crept back up (I run and bike like a fiend, though I haven't hit the gym as much lately)), I wanted to say this:

You guys are true motivators.

Your hard work helped me when I was starting this in earnest last August. And while I've generally been a lurker, I've been a rooting one.

Keep on fighting the good fight. You're all an inspiration to me.

Add me to the list who haven't checked this regularly enough, but is super-impressed by this update.

Weight holding steady in the 169-170 range. Starting to lock in on it again, doing a little more exercise, tracking food on a web app, and putting updates in another thread to highlight a few of my weaknesses. I'm shooting to get back below 165 and see where I can go from there.

[Blackadar]

Weight is still dropping - I'm at 185 and trending downward. The vacation and then my best friend's death got me off a bit, but I'm back in the saddle again.