The Officialish FOFC Weight Loss Dynasty

[NevStar]

Ksyrup,

I did watch the whole season. I'm all for using that show as a motivational tool, but am trying not to use it as a measuring stick.

Not only are they sequestered away from everything with nothing to focus on but their own weight loss, but apparently the producers mess with time between weigh-ins in order to get more dramatic results. So, the time between weigh-ins is sometimes 10-14 days. I suspect actually losing 20 lbs in a week is next to impossible, even if you weight 400 lbs & have a dedicated personal trainer.

The biggest thing, by far, is to take what you want to eat from the package and put the package away before you start eating. I've found it much easier to control my urges when I would have to physically go back to the pantry, open the bag, and take more.

Agreed! This is very good advice.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by NevStar

PROGRESS (1/1 - 1/8)

I'm kicking myself for waiting for the new year to start this & applaud you guys in this thread for starting last year, without waiting for a calendar change to catalyze you.




Eating was not as good. I do well until about 10 pm, when I find myself starving & binging on a late-night snack, usually chips & guacamole. I'm going to try to correct that by eating more during breakfast & lunch, since I probably wasn't eating enough before.

For me, it was getting through a move and passing the Kentucky Bar that removed enough stress from my life to allow me to concentrate on losing the weight. So there was a change in my life, it just wasn't on the calendar. Whatever gets you motivated...

As far as the late-night munchies, you'll just have to work hard at it. I stay up late, usually until midnight, so this was hard. Here are my best tips for nighttime:

1. Try not to eat anything after 8pm, earlier if you go to sleep at 10 or before. The latest I eat a snack is between 8:30 and 9 on the nights I workout, and even then, I eat my snack before I shower to get it over with.

2. Drink lots of water to fill you up. This doesn't just apply to nighttime, either. I drink as much water as I can handle all day long. Alternatively, I've turned into a tea freak since the diet started, you could drink tea to add some flavor if you need it. And tea is a diuretic, so it helps your weight loss. Green tea is the best kind to drink (although I don't limit it to green).

3. Eat mints/chew gum. Same rationale as the water/tea. I've also become mint-crazy since the diet started, and there are tons of great-tastes no/low cal mints out there.

4. Brush your teeth early every night. Snacks don't taste quite so good in a minty mouth.

In general, get into an eating routine as best you can. During the work week is extremely easy for me now, because I've gotten into a routine for breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and daily water intake during work hours that keeps me on track. I basically choose from the same sets of food/calories for each meal. Once I get home, all that's left is dinner and evening snack. Much easier to control when you've only got 2 meals as "wildcards." Weekends take more resolve to keep under control, but with weight loss, it's all about resolve.

Hope this helps!

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by NevStar

Ksyrup,

I did watch the whole season. I'm all for using that show as a motivational tool, but am trying not to use it as a measuring stick.

Not only are they sequestered away from everything with nothing to focus on but their own weight loss, but apparently the producers mess with time between weigh-ins in order to get more dramatic results. So, the time between weigh-ins is sometimes 10-14 days. I suspect actually losing 20 lbs in a week is next to impossible, even if you weight 400 lbs & have a dedicated personal trainer.



Agreed! This is very good advice.

I suspected as much, and certainly, you shouldn't try to measure up to any specific person as much as take from it the fact that he was able to do it - even if that means it will take you 2 or 3 times as long to get where you want to be (let alone where he is).

[Ksyrup]

So I got my blood work results back yesterday, and I'm pretty damn happy about them. Given my diet for the past several months, I somewhat expected that my cholesterol would be good (it better be!), but it was even better than I expected.

Here are my results:

Cholesterol - 113 (goal is <200)
Triglyceride - 49 (goal is <150)
HDL - 44 (goal is >40)
LDL - 59 (goal is <130)

For comparison, here are the results from my blood test from 2003 that I posted about previously, from when I was on Atkins:

Cholesterol - 175
Triglyceride - 70
HDL - 46
LDL - 115

Everything is much, much better other than my HDL level, which is about the same. The odd thing about the HDL is that I've pretty much done everything there is to raise my HDL level that is recommended. I'm wondering if my HDL level dropped during the past 3 years, and the new reading is actually an improvement from where it has been, but not compared to where it was in 2003. We'll have to see where it is in a year, but that's the only explanation that makes sense to me.

[Lorena]

The 2003 numbers don't look too bad but dang, your numbers now are awesome! Congratulations you did very very well in a span of 5 months is it?

WTG and thanks for the update.

[Radii]

From the thread Ksyrup bumped... August 2003:

dropped from 315 to 288

288... that was the magic diet. That's the only one I've ever had worthwhile success with. Not just Atkins, but that specific attempt on Atkins. I've dropped to 300 a number of times before, but I seem to plateau there. That is the only time since I originally went over 300 pounds around age 24 that I got back down below 290.

No point to that post really, I just forgot how well I had done dieting that time and how much money I saved from eating out and how good I felt.

[Radii]

Only 6 days between weigh ins, but I'd like to start doing this Monday mornings.

Stats
Starting weight (11/25/06): 355
Previous Weight (1/9/07: 348.7
Current Weight (1/15/07): 345.5
Total loss: - 9.5 lbs


Still no diet changes, but I have been getting more exercise, and I am working to turn the new exercise regimen into a legitimate habit. That is by far the most important thing for me right now, though I am going to start drinking more water and less bad stuff this week.

[Lorena]

That's great progress Radii!! Sounds like you got over one of the biggest hurdles in making your workouts a habit so congrats on that!

[Lorena]

dola,

and thanks for bumping this radii. I haven't posted my results in over a month? Yikes!!

Stats
Starting weight (09/09/06): 194.4
Previous Weight (12/18/06): 187.8
Current Weight (01/15/07): 189.2
Total loss: - 5.2 lbs
Loss needed to reach desired goal: 64.2 lbs.

Wow, I was actually at 185 at one point and I haven't seen that number in over a month. The good think is that like Radii, I have made working out a habit. I've been going at least 4 times a week for at least half an hour so that's a big plus.

My new years resolution is to lose this weight by the end of the year, so if I remain dedicated to the diet and lose 2 lbs. a week, I should be able to accomplish that goal.

EDIT: I meant to ask, does anyone know of any alcoholic beverages that are okay to have when dieting? I don't know diddley about red wine so I don't even know where to start.

[Ksyrup]

We had a "bad" weekend of good food, so I gained a little this weekend, but we forced ourselves to the gym last night. I had my first hamburger and fries since late August/early September. Now it's just a matter of getting back to my new normal routine to work it off. Even though I'm at the point where I can afford to gain a little, I don't want to get into that habit. The balancing act is going to be a difficult one.

Congrats Radii for a good week!

[NevStar]

WEEK 2

This week I started off fantastically. I exercised every day from Sunday thru Thursday. I had my first personal training session, where my trainer had me doing lots of core & body weight exercises. It's very different from what I've ever done before. I was kind of disappointment that he didn't give a little more structure... I work with him once a week, but work by myself another 4-5 times a week, no plan for those days? I think I have enough knowledge to implement my own plan that will mesh well with the work I do with him, but would like to have seen a suggestion from him.


I visited my family from Friday thru Monday. It didn't start so well & ended even worse. My parents picked me up at the airport & on the ride home we stopped at a restaurant. I had already eaten, but my parents insisted I order something.

"What do you mean you'll just have coffee? You like this ham & sausage skillet, order it!"

"Well, ok... (I can just skip breakfast tomorrow, I guess)"

This continued & by the end of the weekend, it was..

"Do I want a third piece of cake? Of course I do!"

I was disappointed by my lack of willpower & stunned that since I was around people who've known me all my life as the fat, lazy guy, I reverted back to what they thought I was. I got no exercise (apart from wrestling with the dog for 10 minutes).

Since it's impossible to lock myself in an isolation tank for 9 months while I lose weight, I'm going to have to come to terms with this. If I can't change other people's perceptions of me, I'm going to have to do my best to resist them.

RESULTS
Since I was out of town, this weigh-in was one day later.

Starting Weight (1/1/07): 445
Last Week's Weight: 438
Current Weight (1/16): 434 (-4)
Total Weight Lost: 11

Fortunately, my weekend binge didn't hurt too much (only a one pound gain from an unofficial weigh-in on Wednesday). I have another training session tonight & want to get right back into the swing of things. I took a minute to feel bad about my failure this weekend & hope to start right back up again.

[Ksyrup]

I had to take the hard line stance, too. You're just going to have to do it. Be honest with your family about what your goals are, hhow you feel, and how you would like them to treat you and respect your commitment to losing weight. Did you even tell them what you were doing?

I even had to justify the "all or nothing" approach to my wife, who was dieting at the same time I was. She just couldn't understand my mentality, despite my explaining how difficult it is to only have a taste but no more. It still is, to some degree, but now that the weight is off, that's the part I am concentrating on. I let myself go a little this past weekend and will consider it a major success if I'm able to bounce right back to the type of diet I need to maintain with no problem.

[Ksyrup]

Well, I'm pretty pleased that I was able to easily burn off the bad weekend of food this week with good eating and a couple of workouts. My "problem" now is that I continue to lose weight - I weighed in at 159.8 this morning. As cool as it is to see a "150-something" on the scale, I really don't want to lose any more weight. I have increased my calorie intake a little to help with it, but honestly, I don't feel like I'm hungry enough to add too much food and I don't want to eat just to eat.

I have added a couple more servings of fruit during the day, some nuts, and I'm drinking that V8 Frusion stuff. I've never had V8 before, and we've been buying it for our 2 year old, but she didn't like the blueberry/pomegranite, so we tried it and really like it. And, I'm allowing myself to have ice cream as well - the Edy's slow churned and yogurt blend versions, which are great.

We'll just see how it goes, but I can't afford to go much lower because I've already gone through so many new clothes I'll go broke if I have to get more.

[NevStar]

Heh,

A few months ago did you ever think you'd be having this problem. "Oh no! I'm losing too much weight!"

Have you tried adding some resistance training to your exercise? Increasing your % of carbs (which I've guess you've started with the extra fruit servings)? Those would add more mass & slow the weight loss.

[Ksyrup]

What I've transitioned to at the gym is about 25 minutes of cardio/fat burning on an elliptical and another 20 minutes or so on weights, mainly concentrating on upper body (arms and chest). I've already seen a little improvement with my arms What I need to do a better job with is crunches and push-ups at home on the nights I don't work out. The tendency is to put the kids to bed and sit down to watch TV for the rest of the night. I definitely want to tighten up my mid-section.

I'm experimenting with what and how much to add to my diet. Right now it's a double-edged sword that I don't feel like I need to eat more. I guess long-term, I want to keep that feeling, but within reason.

[Radii]

Stats
Starting weight (11/25/06): 355
Previous Weight (1/15/07): 345.5
Current Weight (1/22/07): 344.7
Total loss: - 10.3 lbs

I woke up this morning psyching myself up to write a post about how I'd gained weight(instead of ignoring this thread and only posting when I have good news, which is a problem I've had in the past). I have no idea how I lost anything, even less than a pound.

The World of Warcraft expansion came out last week. I basically did nothing but play that and go to work. I didn't exercise and I sure as hell didn't watch what I ate(how could I, i'd have to take my eyes off the computer screen!!). And that was fun for a week but I'll be getting back to "normal" this week, getting some exercise every day and working on cutting back the sodas.

[Ksyrup]

Stick with it, man! I've been successfully negotiating my addiction to NCAA Football '07 and still finding time to exercise...although I am concerned for you, since my only experience with WoW is that South Park episode where they all got enormously fat with back acne and shit.

In another positive sign for how much things have changed for me and my wife, we went to Olive Garden Saturday night for the first time in about 8-10 months and could barely finish half of our meals. I had 2 plates of salad, no bread sticks, and took home enough food for dinner the next night. We're considering splitting a meal next time we go out to dinner to save money, since we can't/don't want to finish what they give us anyway. After eating "sensible" portions for so long, it's amazing how much food we get at restaurants and don't even think about it when we clean our plates. I know I used to not only eat that entire meal, but 2-3 bread sticks as well.

[NevStar]

WEEK 3

Had a very good week--omitting Sunday, where I allowed myself some chips & guacamole while rooting for the Bears. Worked out everyday Tues thru Saturday. Getting into a routine, which is good, I think.

Since Radii posted about WoW, I'll add that I got rehooked on WoW in December, and was convinced that I could keep my subscription & still lose the weight that I wanted. That idea quickly dissolved, and I quickly decided I would just stop cold turkey. I've also watched much less TV (and will watch even less once the football season is over). As uninteresting as it will make me seem, I feel like I need to keep focused on a healthy lifestyle.

I watched this Primetime special last week about people with morbid obesity. They featured this guy who weighed about 800 pounds, lost over 600 pounds, then promptly gained it all back. He's living in an assisted living home for the obese, now. He said something that had a great impact... "How successful would a recovering alcoholic be if he had to take three sips of alcohol a day, in order to live?" I'm always going to struggle with food, even if I make it down to my goal weight. And it's an interesting thought, to compare me with a recovering addict. Which is why I think I need limit the "cheat days," limit the unhealthy time sinks, and stay focused... to avoid a relapse.

RESULTS

When I stepped on the scale this morning I was temporarily worried that one reasonably bad day would supress a week's worth of effort. But, I had nothing to worry about:


Starting Weight (1/1/07): 445
Last Week's Weight: 434
Current Weight (1/23): 426 (-8)
Total Weight Lost: 19

[Ksyrup]

Awesome! Congrats.

I agree about eliminating the cheat days, at least until you've gotten used to eating the way you know you're going to need to eat from now on and are better prepared to handle it. And I wouldn't give yourself a cheat "day," either. I'm just now getting comfortable with adding back things I took away from myself while I was losing weight, but the way I'm doing it is not, "I really miss BBQ, so I'm going to give myself a "cheat" tonight by going to an all you can eat BBQ place." The one thing I'm learning is that it's all about combining portion control with frequent eating. You have to do both. So if I decide to treat myself to pizza, I'll eat 2 pieces, tops, but make sure that I've had a decent snack 2-3 hours before and follow it up with another snack/meal 2-3 after.

The way I'm setting up my diet now is to eat 5-6 meals 2-4 hours apart. It's what I've always heard and never followed, but it really seems to be the best way to do it. I'm eating about 300-350 calories for breakfast, a mid-morning snack around 200 calories, a 350-500 calorie lunch, another 200 calorie snack, a 400-500 calorie dinner, and a 150-200 calorie evening snack. That's somewhere between 1700 and 2000 calories, which I hope will help me maintain my weight. If not, I can adjust up and down to compensate, but the structure will remain in place. What I don't want to do is decide I'm going to cheat one day, cut out the healthy snacks/lunch to make room for the "cheat" dinner, and eat half a pizza or a huge bowl of ice cream or whatever it is you want that you can't have. Instead, having eaten constantly throughout the day, you'll be far more satisfied with a small portion of pizza or a cup of ice cream than you realize.

That's not to say the transition won't be tough, but the light is finally coming on for me and I now realize this is the only way for me to keep the weight off long-term.

[NevStar]

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

The way I'm setting up my diet now is to eat 5-6 meals 2-4 hours apart. It's what I've always heard and never followed, but it really seems to be the best way to do it. I'm eating about 300-350 calories for breakfast, a mid-morning snack around 200 calories, a 350-500 calorie lunch, another 200 calorie snack, a 400-500 calorie dinner, and a 150-200 calorie evening snack. That's somewhere between 1700 and 2000 calories, which I hope will help me maintain my weight.

I've read this in various places, too & thought it was a good idea.

Do you have any advice for how to prepare all these extra meals? Do you just pack 3 meals in the morning for work every day? Use lots of single-serving yogurt & cottage cheese?

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, I use a combo of single-serving fruits, puddings and yogurts (around 60 calories each usually) and regular fruit (pears, bananas, grapes mostly), and snack foods like mixed nuts, the Weight Watchers snack cakes/muffins, sun chips, and South Beach high protein cereal bars.

I basically eat one fruit and one snack food for each snack, and usually pair a Lean Cuisine with a yogurt or pudding for lunch. For breakfast, I usually have a cup of cereal/milk, a South Beach breakfast wrap, oatmeal/cream of wheat, or an english muffin with PB and a piece of fruit and a small cup of V8 Frusion. Dinner is more of a wild card depending on what the family eats, but I either eat my own food or small portions of what they eat and a salad. The evening snack is usually a 100 calorie bag of popcorn, fruit, or a cup of Edy's Slow Churn Ice Cream.

[MacroGuru]

Well, I fell off the diet wagon a bit...a lot of turmoil in my life since Sept...so I am up to 200, I know it is only a 10 pound gain, but you can see it. And I don't want to break the 200 barrier again.

So back to the gym and on my STACK Shake diet. It won't be to hard, and depending on my medical condition and where I land a new job, I am shooting to play football again.

[Lorena]

I'm starting to feel a bit discouraged. I workout out quite a bit and eat pretty healthy but the weight is not coming off, I gained 0.8 lbs.

Stats
Starting weight (09/09/06): 194.4
Previous Weight (12/18/06): 189.2
Current Weight (01/22/07): 190.0
Total loss: - 4.4 lbs
Loss needed to reach desired goal: 64.2 lbs.

I'll update later, didn't wanna forget.

[Ksyrup]

Sorry to hear things aren't progressing as you hoped they would. Are you keeping your portions in check? You might be eating better food, but are you eating too much, or at the wrong time (late night snacks)? Hard to know what the problem is.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Well, I fell off the diet wagon a bit...a lot of turmoil in my life since Sept...so I am up to 200, I know it is only a 10 pound gain, but you can see it. And I don't want to break the 200 barrier again.

So back to the gym and on my STACK Shake diet. It won't be to hard, and depending on my medical condition and where I land a new job, I am shooting to play football again.

This is something I'm going to have to be on the lookout for. My most recent weight gain was partially just laziness and enjoying to eat whatever I wanted, but a lot of it was work/life-related stress from my job and then the move/taking the Bar, etc. It's no coincidence that I felt relieved of enough stress that I started losing weight about the time that life settled back into some sort of normalcy for us. So the next stressful event that occurs, I'm going to have to watch out.

Good luck with the job issue and with keeping yourself in shape during a stressful time.

[Lorena]

Radii: grats on the loss! I remember when EverQuest first came out we did the opposite; we hardly ate so we called it "The EverQuest Diet".

NevStar: wow, 3 weeks and you lost 19 lbs. that's very impressive! I like how you compared alcoholism to obesity. I have a weakness for chocolate. I can't have just 1; it's like a drug once I have one, I need more. It was very difficult when I worked in an office because there was chocolate everywhere, but I have trained myself to say no right off the bat and so far so good.

MacroGuru: hope you find something soon and know you're in my thoughts.

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Sorry to hear things aren't progressing as you hoped they would. Are you keeping your portions in check? You might be eating better food, but are you eating too much, or at the wrong time (late night snacks)? Hard to know what the problem is.

You hit it right on the head Ksyrup, my problem is with portion control. Not only that, but I eat a lot of tortillas, bread and English Muffins. I'm really anal about reading labels so everything that goes in my shopping cart is good for us, but dangit, I just eat too much of it.

I weighed myself this morning and lost weight, thank goodness. I know what the problem is and I'll have to either take it easy on them or completely eliminate it from my diet. I'm gonna really make it a point to pick up the SouthBeach Diet book and look at the Phase 1 Food List and follow it to a T.

Anyway, thanks Ksyrup for being here and keeping us on check

[Ksyrup]

No problem; given my history, I'm sure I'll be in a position to need help from you guys at some point in the future!

[Lorena]

*sigh*

My husband brought home 3 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. He opened up the Thin Mints (my favorite) and they each grabbed a handful of cookies and asked if I wanted some. I said no thank you and he left them on the counter. I kept going in the kitchen smelling the minty chocolatey yumminess and walked away. I asked him to put them away so I don't see them (out of sight, of of mind - thanks Ksyrup ). So here I am on the computer keeping myself occupied so I don't give in to temptation.

I need to get outta here cuz they're eating them right now and it's kinda bugging me that I can't have any. Last week my husband brought home Flaming Hot Cheetos Fries and I grabbed a big handful and that lead to another, to another... I can't do that again. In half an hour I'm a go to the gym and jog/walk on the treadmill for half an hour and hopefully when I come back it won't be as tempting.

Anyway, just wanted to write this down so I can get my mind off of it even if for a few minutes. Thanks for reading.

EDIT: it's 9:31pm and back from the gym. Thankfully this helped with the cravings and I no longer want those cookies. Going to the gym and writing this down helped a lot. I jogged/walked 1.90 miles in half an hour and the average speed was 3.8. Cool, that's up from last week so it's improvement.

[hoopsguy]

Figured I may as well post in here, as I've lurked in this thread on-and-off for about two months.

I'm 5'9" and had watched my weight go as high as 189 before I started to take some action at the start of December. My wife and I purchased a treadmill and I decided that this would be a good time for me to try to kick my caffeine addiction. I was drinking about four cokes a day; going without one for 24 hours would lead to nasty headaches.

I didn't make any dramatic diet decisions. I travel to different clients every day and have yet to show the discipline to pack a lunch. I'm trying to make breakfast a more regular habit, but that is only happening a couple of times a week. And I'm looking to cut down on my portions at dinner, which has gotten a little easier with time.

Anyway, long story short is that I figured that by cutting from four cokes a day to two and getting in about 2.5 hours on the treadmill per week would lead to a reduction of about 4,500 calories per week. Seemed like a good starting point.

This morning was the first time I've weighed in under 180 in about five years. The weight didn't come off in the first three weeks, but after getting past Christmas I've been able to drop about two pounds per week. And after slowly scaling back on the Cokes, I'm down to about 2-3 per week. I'm drinking a lot of water instead, mixing in a Propel from time to time.

I'm basically waiting to find some kind of plateau in the weight loss and then will consider making more meaningful changes to my diet - there is obviously a lot of room for improvement in this area. I'll probably also look to get some basic level of weight-lifting integrated into the routine at that time. I was originally shooting to get down to 170 (about what I weighed at the end of college) but given my lack of muscle mass compared to that time I think 165 is probably a realistic goal.

Thanks to everyone who has been posting their successes, and challenges, in this thread. It definitely helped me get going with my own routine.

[Greyroofoo]

I posted here long ago, however right after I posted I threw my back out and ever since my weight has gone up and I haven't found the motivation to lose it.

Yesterday at my work, I for some reason bet my supervisor that I could lose 20 pounds faster than he could. Other people at my work jumped in on this challenge (though I expect they won't even remember it a week from now). So now I'm gonna start losing weight again. Wish me luck!!!

[NevStar]

Starting Weight (1/1/07): 445
Last Week's Weight: 426
Current Weight (1/29): 424 (-2)
Total Weight Lost: 21

I'm fairly sure this reading was a little high. I've been very healthy this whole week. I skipped a Friday night workout & deferred a Saturday night workout to Sunday morning, because I had a migrane, but overall it worked very well. Judging from other times I weighed myself during the week, I was expecting about a -6 or -7 loss this week. That's a problem with using one snapshot to represent an entire week's worth of progress.

I have a doctor who recommends weighing yourself daily (at the same time each day) to "quickly detect any problems." I think that's counter-productive. I gained 6 lbs in one day (clearly this is water weight, because I only ate 2100 calories the day before). If I wasn't seeing the big picture, I could easily get discouraged at this. Numbers are good for quantitative feedback, but use other numbers besides weight, too: your waist measurement, the number of holes on your belt you've gone in, the number of minutes you can run without getting winded, even your resting heart rate. I know all of these are improving, so I don't care so much about the weight.

[Radii]

Stats
Starting weight (11/25/06): 355
Previous Weight (1/12/07): 344.7
Current Weight (1/29/07): 344.1
Total loss: - 10.9 lbs

A second week where I didn't really do much and still lost a little. This is all a sign that if I can really take this seriously and do the things I want to do that the weight is ready to come flying off, but for some reason my mindset just isn't so hot right now. I'm pleased to have lost some weight despite not trying last week, espicially considering that last week was the first stressful week of the new year for me.

[Lorena]

NevStar: I know what you mean about concentrating on how many inches one loses as opposed to the number on the scale. I have lost 3x more in inches than I have in weight. It gets a little discouraging at times though.

Radii: That is a good sign!! I'm trying to get to a point where I don't have to worry about food as much, but dang, those chips get me every time! Not so much the sweets, believe it or not, but the crunchy snacks get me.

[Lorena]

Well, a loss is a loss:

Stats
Starting weight (09/09/06): 194.4
Previous Weight (01/22/07): 190.0
Current Weight (01/29/07): 188.4
Total loss: - 6.0 lbs
Loss needed to reach desired goal: 63.4 lbs.

I've been plugging my weight on a calendar and have September 1st as the day I should reach my goal. That would be losing 2 lbs a week so we'll see. I went to the gym 3 times a week for half an hour and worked in 2 jogs of half an hour, so that went very well, but I keep late snacking and chips... those darn chips get me everytime.

Anyway, good job guys.

[Greyroofoo]

Well today's the start of my office competition, and not a particularly good day for me, as my food choice wasn't very healthy and I still feel the effects of drinking WAAY to much saturday night.

Start Weight: 168.0

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by Greyroofoo

Well today's the start of my office competition, and not a particularly good day for me, as my food choice wasn't very healthy and I still feel the effects of drinking WAAY to much saturday night.

Start Weight: 164.4
1st Target Weight: 147.8
(We agreed upon 10% loss in 8 weeks)

Good luck roofoo I'm rooting for ya.

[Greyroofoo]

thanks, lets just hope I can avoid throwing out my back.

[Greyroofoo]

Well I motivated myself to get to the gym this evening, spent little over an hour on the bike. Burned about 550 calories according to the machine.

[Lorena]

Crap, I was measured today at Curves and I gained weight and inches. 2 lbs, 1 inch on my hips (butt) and half an inch on my tummy.

Grrr I went from being dissapointed to upset. No excuses I know what I did and hell, I sabotaged myself again.

Alright, clean slate. I made mistakes but they're correctable. Good thing is that my workouts have been on track.

EDIT to add: I get measured once a month so 2 lbs. and 1 inch ain't all that bad.

[Greyroofoo]

Gotta make sure mistakes don't keep you down. Learn what led you to make the mistake and then learn how to avoid it.

[Ksyrup]

I've been doing a decent job of maintaining my weight for the past couple of weeks. I increased my calories to try to stop losing and have been floating between 157.5 and 160. This week has been hectic and I haven't gotten to the gym, but I'm going to try to go tonight. I did sit-ups on Monday night, so that helped a little.

[Greyroofoo]

Last week 164.4
This Week 168.0 (+3.6)

Yikes, I knew my weight would jump thanks to the superbowl, but I didn't think it'd jump that much. Anyways I feel this week will be a good week

[Lorena]

Well, not a good week. I went to the gym twice last week for half an hour and the diet didn't go so well:

Stats
Starting weight (09/09/06): 194.4
Previous Weight (01/29/07): 188.4
Current Weight (02/0507): 189.6 (+1.2 lbs)

[NevStar]

Starting Weight (1/1/07): 445
Last Week's Weight: 424
Current Weight (2/6): 425 (+1)
Total Weight Lost: 20

Have been nursing a cold for the last week, and only exercised twice. Ate a little too much junk during the Super Bowl.

[duckman]

Instead of bringing up my old thread, I'll join this one.

Starting weight (02/04/07): 225.5
Long Term Goal: Lose 40 lbs in 30 weeks

Just started with 30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week. I will increase it to 5 days a week once I get into better shape.

[Ksyrup]

Anyone see the articles about the new over-the-counter weight loss pill that the FDA approved? My first thought was...where the hell was this 6 months ago?!?!

Anyway, keep up the good work, people. I'm still doing a pretty good job of maintaining. Been to the gym twice this week after a week off. It was unintended, but we had so much going on with the kids and snow days, etc., that I couldn't get to the gym. I did do situps 3 times to at least keep from being sedentary. Oh, and I pulled the kids and my wife around the yard on a sled, which was tougher than any workout I've had so far.

This morning I weighed in at 159.2. Right in the range I'm trying to stay in.

[NevStar]

The new drug looks to be a reduced-strength version of Xenical, which is a fat-trapper. They seem to be packaging this as a weight loss program, including an eating plan & access to a website.

Might be interesting.

Check out this site hxxp://www.myalli.com

Doing well this week, have been to the gym 3 times, 75 minutes each. Good luck everyone posting their progress.

[hoopsguy]

Down a couple of more pounds, to 177, over the last two weeks. I'm shooting for "under 175" for my birthday (first week of March) so I need to continue to drop a pound a week to accomplish that.

I've made a couple of schedule adjustments, as work has gotten busier, to include more morning treadmill work instead of evenings. However, I'm a night person and I always feel particularly flat in the mornings. So I'm going with longer (35-40 minute) walk sessions instead of 20-30 minute jog/run sessions. Calories burned are in the same 350-500 range, and from what I've read in the running thread in "Off Topic" the longer workouts may be better for me overall.

Continuing to be cognizant of portion control, with the exception of Super Bowl weekend. That was a bad stretch ... good news is that it really didn't seem to set me back in the overall scheme of things. And I'm very happy to be seeing tangible results with my overall energy/stamina during my weekend basketball games.

[duckman]

A nice way to start off the second week.

Stats
Starting weight (02/04/07): 225.5
Previous Weight (02/04/07): 225.5
Current Weight (02/11/07): 220.0 (-5.5)

I think I'll need to increase my calorie intake though because it's not very healthy to lose that much weight. I averaged 1675 calories per day this week. I'll bump it up to 1800 to see if I can get the maxium rate of 2 lbs per week.

[NevStar]

Results:

Starting Weight (1/1/07): 445
Last Week's Weight: 425
Current Weight (2/12): 418 (-7)
Total Weight Lost: 27

This week I've bought a kitchen scale and have been monitoring everything I eat. Usually, it's around 1800-2000 calories. I've still had trouble to find time for 5/6 meals, but have been having 4 meals (eating less at lunch & dinner).

I've now been to the gym 7 straight days. Rock, Rock On!

(edit 2/12 -- just changed the date under current weight, no measurements)