Day #67 - A Few Bumps in the Road

Another great night's sleep and today I was ready to put up tile.  As I began I realized that I was missing a few things so off to the hardware store.  Back at it again when Mrs. FogDog suggested a minor change in the design... back to the hardware store.  By the time I was ready to tile, it was already 1PM. 

I'm doing well with the eating, but I haven't been carb cycling.  I'm so caught up in my remodel that I'm just eating 3 meals a day and trying to drink as much water as I can.  I'm sure I've lost some weight with all the work I've been doing.

Anyway, I'm tired so it's off to bed, more tile work tomorrow.

Stay Strong!

Day #29 - Multiple Blog Posts Going

It's day #29; one day shy of a full month of focusing on health.  Today I only walked a mile during lunch.  It was a bit warmer today so my friend and I decided to walk outside near work.  Unfortunately as we got walking it became clear that although the temperature was OK, the wind was not.  We only did one loop (about 1 mile) and then stopped. 

I used to rest of my lunch time to write a little for tonight's blog post.  When I got home from work I spent some more time writing for a blog post, but under a different topic.  Right now I have several blog posts going under different topics.  None of them sounded right; they really don't express what I'm trying to say so I decided to put them aside for now and just write.

I followed my eating plan today and got my water in.  I've mentioned it a couple times; it feels strange that I can have good weeks and then bad weeks but not give up.  A very good friend of mine is also putting focus on his health.  He doesn't really need to lose weight, but he's quite out of shape and has also quit smoking along with me.  We were talking about how we haven't fallen apart yet and one of his comments was "Maybe it's just our time".  Though I can't speak for him, I can say that for me there's no maybe about it.  2015 IS my time!

Stay Strong!

Day #12 - Good and Bad

The week has been a mix of good and bad.  When I made the decision to try and change multiple things about me at once, I knew that inevitably some things would go better than others.  Above everything else, I told myself I need to refrain from smoking.  If I can refrain from smoking and lose weight as well, that much the better, but even if I can keep from gaining weight while I quit smoking that would still be an accomplishment. 

This week I came out of my funk but I struggled a little with eating.  I'm still smoke free which is great and I can say that after 12 days the cravings are becoming rare.  However I've slipped a little here and there with food; mostly in the evenings.  I have managed to keep drinking water, but I suspect that when I weigh in tomorrow I will see myself giving back some of those 12 pounds I lost.  No worries though, it's a long road filled with bumps.  I can't get all worked up over a few minor bumps here and there.

-Stay Strong

Day #1 - A Good Start

The hardest part of any journey is having the courage to take that first step.  Today I did just that!  I made a commitment to myself that I would dedicate 2015 to making my health a priority; today I finished day one.  Like most days, today wasn’t perfect, but I can honestly say I gave it my all. 

I followed my eating plan well and drank my gallon of water.  I did end up eating a couple extra cheese cubes later in the day because I felt really hungry, but still I managed to do very well with the diet.  I also managed to get a 30 minute walk in at lunchtime.  I knew that I would be exhausted by the end of the day so I went out at lunchtime and just walked.  Nothing super fast; I’m just trying to move around a little more.  Sadly, I could feel it in my back after just 30 minutes I was already feeling a little tired out.  Man I’m really out of shape.

Normally I don’t try to fix multiple things at once, but I made a commitment to focus on my health so today I also went smoke free.  It definitely made the day very tough.  If you ever quit smoking you probably know that those first few days are just physically exhausting.  I barely got any work done in the office and I ended up leaving early and went home to rest.  I wish I could have been a little more active today, but for the next week I expect that I will be quite tired without the cigarettes as a boost.

I’m off to bed early and I am excited to have made it through the day.  On to tomorrow.

-Stay Strong!

Weight Loss Priorities

Very often you read posts from other bloggers talking about making losing weight a priority, but it’s a little rarer to find a post that talks about prioritizing within weight loss.  You can’t put all your focus on  everything at once, and if you try you just end up frustrated with failure.  Below are the priorities I established for myself to help lose weight and be healthy.  The #1 priority might surprise you a little…

Priority #5 – Exercise

Daily exercise is important with a healthy lifestyle, whether it’s structured or not.  People didn’t always have gym memberships or elliptical machines at home.  They stayed fit by moving around and working hard.  It’s interesting how things are starting to come full circle, you are beginning to see a lot of structured workouts designed around being unstructured.  Pull a sled, flip a tractor trailer tire, pick up a heavy sack and carry it around.  Not much different from the days of old right?  Regardless of the method, you have to move around, you have to work your muscles, and you have to get that heart rate up once in a while if you ever have any hope to drop the weight.

Priority #4 – Water

You can find tons of conflicting information about how much water to drink, but one thing you don’t find is people telling you water is not important.  There is no dispute that water is an important part of weight loss.  It keeps you hydrated, flushes out the bad stuff, and even helps you to feel full.  Decide for yourself what the right amount is but make sure “plenty of water” is one of your priorities.

Priority #3 – Healthy Eating

You can exercise hard an hour a day but it won’t really do you much good if you eat cheeseburgers and pizza the other 23 hours.  That’s why healthy eating is at #3 priority.  There are a zillion diets out there; a vast majority of them are healthy with a few rare exceptions.  I’m not going to try to convince anyone about what the right diet is because it depends on the person.  However, I can promise you the road to successful long term weight loss includes a healthy eating plan.

Priority #2 – Proper Mindset

I bet you thought this would be #1 priority?  Nope, it’s #2.  You can eat healthy, get plenty of water, and exercise regularly and still not be successful in the long term.  Proper mindset is what keeps you on your path.  Proper mindset is what allows you to keep your promises to follow the other priorities.  Yes, you can lose weight without proper mindset, but the success will be short lived and you will eventually find yourself in a worse situation than you were before.  Without priority #2, it becomes very difficult to maintain priorities #3, #4, and #5.

Priority #1 – SLEEP!

This might surprise you, but sleep is my #1 priority.  If you do not get good quality sleep, you will be too tired to exercise (#5).  If you do not get good quality sleep your body does not function properly and your metabolism is affected as well (#4 and #3).  Finally, if you do not get good quality sleep then it becomes impossible to maintain a proper mindset (#2).  If you do not get good quality sleep then you can forget about any of the other priorities; sleep trumps then all!


Priority Flip-Flop

Most people focus most of their energy on #3, #4 and #5 and give little attention to #1 and #2.  In fact many people believe that by fixing #3, #4, and #5 they will see improvement in #1 and #2.  Maybe that’s why most people (myself included) fail.  Maybe we need to put less energy into healthy consumption and exercise and more energy into quality sleep and proper mindset.  Am I suggesting #3, #4, and #5 be ignored?  No, that’s not what I’m saying; they are still important in any healthy lifestyle.  My point is that maybe our weight loss priorities are upside down.  Maybe by putting more effort into sleep and mindset you wouldn’t need so much effort in the others and they would actually become easier. 

What do you think; what are your weight loss priorities? 

[Photo: Flickr / R/DV/RS]

Week #8 Weigh-in

8/24/14 Starting Weight: 347.8 lbs

 

Last Weigh-in: 315.9 lbs

Current Weight: 314.6 lbs

Period Weight Loss: 1.3 lbs

Total Weight Loss: 33.2 lbs

  
 

 

In my last post I wrote a little bit about being obsessed with the scale and indicated that I might actually take a break from getting on the scale for a while.  Today's weigh-in gives me my answer but not for the reason that you think.  I've become convinced that there is too much variability in weighing ourselves (my next post).  Just 24 hours ago I got on the scale and weighed +7 pounds.  Yes that is not a typo, +7 pounds.  This morning, just 24 hours later, I have somehow managed to lose 8.3 pounds.  If you can believe that, then let me go write a book on my miracle diet and I can sell it to you.  No, for me, the issue with my scale is around water.  After 8 weeks I've started to see that just the smallest changes in my salt intake can cause major fluctuations in my weight.  I've said it a couple times, I have been drinking a gallon of water every day.  I had to Google it... a gallon of water weighs a little over 8 pounds!  When you are putting almost 60 pounds of fluid through your body each week you are going to see more fluctuations than normal.  Yesterday and today have confirmed it for me, it makes no sense for me to weigh-in every single week.

Lowlights:

1. Stress, Stress, Stress!
2. Not enough exercise
3. Feeling a little worn out

Highlights:

1. I'm learning about my path and making smart changes
2. Passed on donuts in the office Friday (small victory #23)
3. Still following my eating plan and doing very well
4. Water consumption has become automatic

So I've now had 2 consecutive months of weight loss (at least that's what the scale says).  I'm proud of that; it's the longest I've ever gone without having a week of relapse.  Regardless of the weight I haven't had one of those weeks where you do bad all week long and then "hope" the scale helps you out.  I feel good where I'm at right now; I'm making progress every week with still plenty of room to grow.

I mentioned above that I feel a little worn out, but not from the eating.  I need a vacation day or two from my job; I have to survive for one more week and then I can take a day or two off the following week.  An extra long weekend might be just the thing I need plus I can use the time to get some much needed chores done around the house.

As for the weigh-in, here's what I've decided to do...

When I started this journey I made a promise to commit to 3 months of healthy eating and I now have 4 weeks to go to complete that promise.  I've decided to make another small promise to stay off the scale until those 4 weeks are up.  I will continue to do my Saturday post with my highlights and lowlights, but just without a number.  On week #12 I will weigh again and we'll see just how I fared in my first 3 months of a lifelong transformation.  To the blogging community: Thanks for all the support so far!

 

Stay Strong!

-FogDog

 

 

[Photo: Flickr / 'Playingwithbrushes']

Noble Excuses

If you are overweight, chances are good that you are pretty darn good at making excuses for overeating or eating poorly.  However, some of us have this uncanny skill to take our excuses and put a little extra weight behind them.  These excuses are not just justification for unhealthy behavior, but rather, they become mandates to do so; not following them means going against our societal norms altogether and putting yourself at risk of becoming an outcast.  I call these great rationales “Noble Excuses”.

What makes an excuse noble is the selflessness that comes along with it.  When you choose a noble excuse, you choose to put your own personal needs aside while you attend to the needs of others even if that excuse means a little weight gain.  Below are just a few examples of excuses that go that extra mile and therefore become NOBLE...


A Friend In Need

Everyone has friends (well, most everyone); and those friends have needs, both physical and emotional.  When you are trying to eat healthy, a friend in need is the perfect opportunity to create a Noble Excuse…

What’s that, your best friend just broke up with her boyfriend?  You need to do the right thing and march right over to her house and help her fight through the tears with a couple gallons of ice cream!  To do anything else would be unworthy of BFF status.

Your buddy’s brother just lost his job? Time to man up, put on your big boy pants, and get ready for a night of heavy duty drinking.  Afterall, it’s your buddy’s brother, it’s your duty!


Will Someone Please Think of the Children!

Ah yes, the wee Children.  Parents’ perfect generator for noble excuses.  There are so many different ways we parents can use our kids for rationalization…

Little Suzie has to go to karate class and Johnny has gymnastics 3 times a week.  There’s no time to cook a healthy meal, but my kids need these activities.  We’ll just have to suffer through some pizza for the good of the kids!

My kids won’t eat healthy food.  I can’t let them starve so we’ll be eating hot dogs tonight in order to make sure they don’t go hungry!

If I eat this candy bar, maybe I’ll stop being so cranky.  I need to do it or I might say something that scars my kids for life!


For the Greater Good

No discussion about nobility comes without talking about the greater good.  History is filled with heinous acts that were done with “the greater good” in mind, why would unhealthy eating be any different…

I’ve eaten so well for the last week, but if I don’t go out for Chinese buffet now, I’ll surely lose control next week and end up eating out multiple times.  I better go out now in order to help stay in control later.

Should I eat Aunt May’s cherry cobbler or Uncle Ralph’s pumpkin pie?  Making a choice will certainly create a rift that will rival the Hatfields and the McCoys.  I better do the right thing and have both, you know, to keep the peace.


What's Your Excuse?

Life happens and we can’t just hide out in a low calorie bubble.  Friends will have problems, kids will be kids, and it’s impossible to keep family peace for more than about 5 seconds at any family event.  At the end of the day noble excuses are nothing more than excuses with a lot of thought behind them.  Instead of putting your energy into making your excuses noble, why not instead try to put that energy into not needing excuses in the first place.  Life is all about making a lot of small choices; you need excuses for the bad ones, but you gain true satisfaction from the good ones.

What about you, what’s your most Noble Excuse?

 

 

[Photo: Flickr / Jarapet]

Weight Loss "Tale of Two Cities"

It’s been a very interesting week to say the least.  On the one hand my eating has been rock-solid, almost automatic.  I don’t know if it’s all the water I’m drinking, but I just don’t feel hungry despite a daily intake of 1500 calories (4 low carb days) or 2000 calories (2 high carb days).  I really expected the hunger to be gnawing at me, you know, whispering in my ear about how great it would be to go get a pizza. 

My best friend is back at work after a business trip and even he hasn’t had any impact on my resolve.  My best friend is the epitome of what I need to NOT do.  He smokes, drinks everyday, skips breakfast, and eats fast food the rest of the day.  Someday I’ll have to figure out how he isn’t twice my size.  Anyway, all week we’ve been going out for lunch… well sort of. 

Since he’s been out of town and since we’ve both been incredibly busy, we haven’t had much time to talk so we’ve been going out at lunchtime just to hang out.  I heat up and eat my lunch at 11:45 and then at noon we go out and he stops at some fast food joint to get something to eat in the car.  All week I’ve been going with him and not once have I even been tempted to get something (small victories 11,12,13,14, and 15).  I’m hoping when he sees my resolve he’ll start bringing his lunch; we’ll see.

On the flip side of the coin, I’ve done a horrible job at exercising.  My fear has come true, now that I’ve abandoned getting up at 5AM, it seems I have very little motivation to workout in the evening.  All week I’ve been finding excuses (such as right now when I could be working out instead of blogging.  Ohh that gives me a great idea for a blog post… the irony of sitting on your ass blogging about losing weight.  Look for it next week!  OK where was I?  Oh yeah no exercising.

I still expect to see a loss tomorrow when I get on the scale, it’s just that I don’t feel like the week was complete for me.  How can someone do so well in one area of healthy living and so poorly in another?  I noticed that I have a harder time falling asleep when I don’t exercise; I know it’s good for my body and my mind.  Oh well, one day at a time; you can’t fix everything at once.  I’ll report on my weigh-in tomorrow.

Stay Strong!

[Photo: Flickr / Pascal]

Week #3 Weigh-In September 13, 2014

8/24/14 Starting Weight: 347.8 lbs

 

Last Weigh-in: 336 lbs

Current Weight: 333.6 lbs

Period Weight Loss: 2.4 lbs

Total Weight Loss: 14.2 lbs

 

 

 

 

After losing almost 12 pounds in the first 2 weeks, I was a little worried about what I would see this week (yes I write about the evils of the scale but I'm not immune to its charm either).  I was very happy to see that I lost 2.4 pounds.  I know that I gave it my best this week and I feel great!

 

Highlights:

1. I did a great job with my eating plan
2. I hit my target every day drinking at least a gallon of water
3. I had an incredibly bad day and did not let that deter my plans.  I even got an extra exercise session in to help deal with the stress
4. After 3 weeks of healthy living I'm feeling great; my mood is very much improved!

Lowlights:

1. I became obsessed with the scale.  We left it out from the previous week and I stood on it at least a half dozen times during the week.  I promptly put the scale away this morning after weighing in and made a small promise to stay off it for at least 1 week.
2. I missed one day of exercise mid week and I'm re-evaluating my current (rigid) exercise plan
3. I've abandoned morning meditation

Three weeks in the books and now I'm starting to see some areas where I need to adjust.  You can expect to see some posts in the coming week about these adjustments.

It's also worth noting that if you go to my weight loss tracking page, you can see that when I restarted my blog in 2012 I lost 11 pounds in 3 months.  I've actually lost more weight this time in just 3 weeks!

Stay Strong!

[Photo: Flickr / Bradley Eldridge]



Eat Like a Kid Again

Kids are amazing little creatures… until we screw them up with all of our “adult” ways.  There’s a lot we can learn from them about eating if only we weren’t already trained to screw them up.  Take a look below at some of the ways kids eat differently than adults.  Who knows, maybe we should all go back to eating like a kid...


Kids Eat When They are Hungry

Kids don’t stick to some predefined pattern when it comes to eating.  If they are hungry, they tell you.

How we screw them up:  Ever tell your kid they can’t have a snack because dinner is in an hour?  We force them to eat in a pattern and we teach them to ignore their hunger in favor of eating based on what the clock says.

“I know you want a snack, but we are going to have lunch in an hour and if I give you a snack now you won’t be hungry at lunchtime.” Translation – “Ignore your hunger and keep an eye on the clock.”


Kids DON'T Eat When They are Full

When kids are full, they stop eating.  It doesn’t matter what they are having, it can be their favorite food and they will still push the plate away when they are full

How we screw them up:  Leaving food on your plate? That’s blasphemy!!! We were taught to clean our plates; some little kid in Ethiopia is starving.  Ever tell you kid to eat those last few bites?  Why?

“How can you be full, you only ate half your meal?  Please finish your plate; I spent good money on that food” Translation – “Ignore what your body tells you and do what I say”


Kids Eat What They Like and Don’t Eat What They Don’t Like

Give a kid something they like and they will eat it.  Give them something they don’t like and get ready for WWIII!  Kids refuse to suffer through foods they don’t like healthy or not.  Don’t get me wrong, Kids need to be exposed to new healthy foods to try, but to continue to force them to eat foods they don’t like really doesn’t make much sense.

“You’re not leaving the table until you eat those brussell sprouts!” Translation – “We all have to suffer through foods we don’t like in the name of being healthy so get used to it!”


Kids Take Their Time When They Eat

Kids enjoy their food; they take their time and savor it.  They talk, they laugh, they pick around their plate, finally taking a small bite of food.  Adults are in a hurry; they need to get on to the next thing.  They shovel it in quickly and then move on.  They forgot what it means to experience food.

“Hurry up and finish your plate, we have soccer in an hour.” Translation – “Better get used to eating on the run kid, life is too busy to take your time!”


Kids Don’t Associate Food with Reward…Initially

Kids learn the concept of punishments/rewards pretty quickly.  Do something good, get rewarded; Do something bad and get punished.  Unfortunately adults like to use food (of the unhealthy kind) as a reward and they also like to withhold said food as punishment.

“You can’t have one of those cupcakes for dessert if you don’t finish you’re plate.” Translation – “It doesn’t matter if you are hungry or not or if you like the food or not, the only way to get to the food you like (your reward) you have to eat the food in front of you!”


Who’s Teaching Who?

I’m sure some of you parents have actually said some of the things I’ve written above (I know I have).  Why?  Because it was what we were taught by our parents.  Habits are hard to break especially when it’s a habit that’s deeply rooted from our childhood.  Maybe there’s a better way.  Maybe instead of teaching our children how to eat we should let them teach us.  Their formula seems to be pretty simple; Eat food you like, only when you are hungry, take your time, and stop when you are full.  Who knows, maybe you might enjoy eating like a kid again, that is, before your parents taught you better.

[Photo: Flickr / Tea]

 

Letter To Myself - It's Time!

Dear FogDog-

Wow! Has it really been almost a year and a half since your last failed attempt at weight loss? So much has happened since then that I’m surprised you want to try again. Do you realize that the last time you posted on this blog…

• You lived in a different city
• You had a different job
• You drove a different car
• You still smoked
• You didn’t know you had severe sleep apnea
• You had just turned 40
• You were committed to starting another (failed) journey to lose 100 pounds

I went back and read your post called “starting over” that you made after your first failed attempt at weight loss. You talked about those couple of years as “dark times”. Things haven’t really gotten much better have they? In fact I think it’s safe to say things are worse now than they’ve been in quite a while. Sure, you managed to quit smoking 3 months ago, but at what cost? At the moment you are pretty darn close to 350lbs, you are miserable, and completely exhausted with life. Your job is stressful and not particularly fulfilling so your weekends are spent “unwinding” with a bottle of rum. Your kids don’t understand why you never play with them, and you seem depressed almost all the time. Can things get much worse? I’m amazed that you would even want to try again; you know that you are bound to fail!

But wait a minute; I also see that you are not the same person as before. Something about you is different but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe it’s all those books you started reading about positive psychology. Maybe now you are starting to see that you need to focus within yourself instead of always looking for external fixes. I think those books have helped but I don’t think that’s it.

Maybe it’s all the reading you’ve been doing about being healthy. I know the book you read by Chris Powell seemed to really get you motivated. I’m sure it had something to do with his mental approach to losing weight. No, I think that book was helpful, but I’m not sure that has made you a different person either.

I guess it could be all the health problems you have now. I bet you hate wearing a CPAP at night. My guess is that taking medication for high blood pressure isn’t much fun nor is the constant aching in your knees and feet. I’m sure those things would be enough to motivate you to get healthy.

Or maybe it’s just all of the above; I don’t know for sure, but whatever it is that has changed in you, I can see it very clearly. I saw it 3 months ago when you simply “decided” to quit smoking. You just stopped and even when your best friend gave up and started smoking again, you kept going. No tricks, no gimmicks, you simply decided it was time to quit. You didn’t let anyone influence you and your determination was unwavering. I can see you are now ready to do that again, only this time with losing weight. I think after almost 16 months, you are finally ready to pick yourself back up, dust yourself off, and start again. Actually, I don’t think it, I know it!

Since I can clearly see you are sincerely ready to give it another shot, I wanted to take some time to give you some advice:

• Face your fears! I know you very well; I know that one thing you are afraid of is that if you succeed at losing the weight your excuse for being unhappy will be gone, and then you will have to deal with whatever else might be out there. That might happen; losing weight is no guarantee to make you happy. You are going to have to face this fear and all those other ones that you aren’t quite ready to share yet.

• You need support! From a very early age you taught yourself that you shouldn’t need to rely on anyone to get by. I think you did that so that you wouldn’t have to deal with the feeling of being rejected when you need help. While it might have helped you to become highly independent, it has also made you closed off and incapable of asking for help from anyone. That needs to change. Reach out to your family and friends. Reach out to the blogosphere and find new friends that share your goals. You won’t succeed if you think you can do this one on your own.

• Help Others! You’re a smart guy, you’ve read a lot about being healthy and you’ve fought obesity your whole life. Something happened when you started volunteering in youth sports; you discovered that you actually like to help others! Share your story (good and bad) with anyone who will listen. Keep blogging and stay engaged with the community; it will keep you engaged with your battle.

• You need to keep your word! You’ve promised this before; you’ve said you would change your ways. Every time you promise and then fail to live up to it, it eats away at your soul. No crazy commitments this time, only promise to yourself the things you can realistically achieve.

• Get ready to fail! It’s going to happen and you know it. This journey will not be in a straight line so you need to be able to forgive yourself when you fail. This isn’t a “free pass” to be used when things get tough. You need to hold yourself accountable, but when you fail, you need to figure out what happened, forgive yourself, and then pick yourself back up as quickly as possible.

• Give yourself permission to succeed! Yes, you will fail from time to time, but you also need to allow yourself to succeed. I still don’t know why you don’t feel like you deserve complete success in life, but you do. You deserve happiness and success as much as anyone else.

• Lastly, and most importantly, you need to BELIEVE! Even with all the change I see in you, I’m still not convinced that you truly believe in yourself. I think there have been so many failures, that it’s almost impossible for you to see yourself at a healthy weight. This won’t work if you don’t believe in yourself. YOU CAN DO IT!

That’s all I’ve got for you. I know you are planning on starting your journey on September 1, so you have 2 weeks to get ready. I wish you the best of luck and I’ll do my best to help you stay on the path.

Sincerely,
Mark (A.K.A Fogdog)

The Search for Automatic Weight Loss

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I have spent more time “thinking” during this weight loss adventure than I have on any other previous attempt at losing weight. When I started over, I told myself that I knew exactly how to lose weight, so now I needed to figure out why I don’t. If you know how to do something, but choose not to, it does no good to re-teach yourself how to do it. Instead you have to focus on why you choose not to do it.

Self-reflection can be difficult. It’s sometimes hard to pull yourself out of your normal way of thinking and explore questions that might fly in the face of what you know in your mind to be true. This morning I’ve been sitting at my desk at work reflecting on my life and my situations. As I was doing this I came across a thought that related to weight loss…

“I’m wasting more time and energy trying to automate my life than I’m spending actually living it!”

What does that mean?

I’m an engineer through and through. I love data and systems and tools that are designed to help you get the most efficiency out of anything you are doing. I spend my days trying to automate just about everything.

At work I’ve setup my job so that I can automatically collect the data I need to make decisions. I’ve spent hours and hours setting up spreadsheets so that 3 pieces of information can be entered each month and instantly create 15 different metrics that can be used the track the state of my department.

At home I’ve automated my system for selecting stocks to invest in. I spent MONTHS building a spreadsheet that allows me to enter a stock symbol, click a button, and then it automatically collects 20 years of data, sorts through it, and gives me a score AND a buy and sell price.

What does that have to do with losing weight?

Everything I do is with automation and efficiency in mind… that includes weight loss! If I had a way to track every calorie that went into my mouth while simultaneously tracking every calorie that I expended throughout the day, I would be in heaven. In my mind, if I know exactly what I need to eat, when I need to eat it, and how much I need to move around in order to have my metabolism fire at its most efficient rate, then I have created the most efficient weight loss program possible.

Here’s the problem… I’m trying to build an automatic weight loss system, one that I don’t have to think about what I need to do each day because it’s already been calculated out for me. Does anyone think that really exists? I’m spending so much time focusing on how to make things most efficient (how to lose the most weight with the least amount of effort). Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Why am I trying to be so efficient about my weight loss? Does it matter if I only lose 2 pounds when I could have lost 3? Does it matter if I choose to work out at a time that not optimal for burning calories? Do I really need to know that I should be eating 2200 calories per day instead of 2300? What is any of the data I’m collecting tell me that I don’t already know?

When it comes down to it, the only equation I need to worry about is this:

Eat Less + Move More = Lose Weight

At the end of the day I should be asking myself 2 questions:

1. Did I take steps today to try to eat a healthy, reasonable amount of food?
2. Did I take steps today to try to get more physical activity?

All the energy I spend with spreadsheets and scouring the Internet for that next little piece of information that might make my diet more efficient could be instead be spent running around outside with my kids or teaching myself to prepare a great meal that’s both satisfying to my appetite and tastes great.

Sometimes I get so hung up on the metrics I’m tracking that I forget what it actually is I’m trying to do. I want to be healthy, that’s the ultimate goal. It doesn’t matter what my weight or measurements are, how many calories I’m eating, or how many minutes I spent with my heart rate at a certain level. Yes, those numbers are a good way to measure progress, but they are outputs and shouldn’t drive behavior. Maybe if I stop focusing on the wrong things, the right thing will actually happen!

Day 60 - Weight Loss Results

Starting Weight – 330

Day 50 Weight – 316.8
Current Weight – 319.8

Period Weight Loss – +3 Pounds
Overall Weight Loss – 10.2 Pounds

10 more days and 3 more pounds gained.  It's strange, I'm really struggling, but I'm not really frustrated about it.  Being sick the week before didn't help matters, but I didn't have the same excuse this time, I just simply didn't eat well.

What Went Well

The only thing I can say is going well at the moment is that I'm hanging on and not completely blowing it.  Yes, I've gained weight over the last 2 weigh-ins, but believe me, it doesn't seem like that much compared to how I've felt.  There's a lot of stress in my life right now and I'm really just trying to keep the ship afloat.

Areas to Improve

The weather is finally getting better, I really need to be more active.  I also need to stop going out to eat, both for my health and for my wallet!  Fianlly, I need to get back to drinking water.  That should be an easy no-brainer way to help keep the weight off.

Moving Forward

No changes in daily calories or water consumption goal. No new adjustments to my plan, I just need to get back on it!

Goals for this week (Next 10 Days):

No weight goal for this next period, instead my goal is to get back at it and lose SOMETHING at the next weigh-in. Also, I need to start blogging a little more; I feel like I've lost a little of that momentum (afterall this weigh-in happened last Friday!) Wish me luck; Stay Strong!

Day 50 - Weight Loss Results

Starting Weight – 330

Day 40 Weight – 314.8

Current Weight – 316.8
Period Weight Loss – +2 Pounds

Overall Weight Loss – 13.2 Pounds


Clearly not a great week.  Not that I want to make excuses, but I've actually been quite sick for the last 10 days.  That's why I haven't been posting, and I knew that my results would not be good.  The good news is that as of this morning I'm finally starting to feel a little better and I am ready to get right back to it.

What Went Well

Despite being incredibly sick for most of the last 10 days, I did do surprisingly well with maintaining my diet.  On the worst days of my illness, I did succumb to eating some "comfort foods", but for the most part I really ate pretty well.

Areas to Improve

Obviously being sick, I didn't get any exercise in.  I made a conscious choice to try to get as much rest as possible so as to not stay sick for too long.  I also didn't do well with drinking water; though I drank plenty of Ginger Ale. 

Moving Forward

No changes in daily calories or water consumption (both seem to be working fine). No new adjustments to my plan.

Goals for this week (Next 10 Days):

I highly suspect that the 2 pounds I gained are really nothing more than water retention from being sick.  Because of that, I'm going to shoot for 6 pounds in the next 10 days. Wish me luck; Stay Strong!

Day 40 - Weight Loss Results

Starting Weight – 330

Day 30 Weight – 319.2

Current Weight – 314.8
Period Weight Loss – 4.4 Pounds

Overall Weight Loss – 15.2 Pounds

4.4 pounds... A great recovery from the previous 10 days!  Though 0.6 pounds short of my goal, I'm absolutely thrilled that I was able to turn it around from the last weigh-in.  I have always been haunted by letting one bad week turn into several so I was determined to not let that happen this week.

What Went Well

1. Great Job sticking to my plan (calories, water, and exercise)
2. Did well finding opportunities to get some exercise in.  While I was reloading my PC (see my last post), I would jump on the elliptical trainer while software was loading.  I ended up with 53 minutes of exercise instead of just sitting in front of a PC while software was installing.
3. I DID NOT SMOKE! Last weekend was my first big test in terms of smoking cigarettes.  My best friend came to visit for the first time since I quit and we went out to a friend's house for a poker game.  He's a smoker and the two of us tend to be enablers for each other's bad habits.  Not only did I refrain from smoking, but I was also reasonable with the amount of food and beer I had at the poker game.  Definitely a good sign that my habits are changing!

Areas to Improve

1. I still need to be more active.  I reached my exercise goal, but I'm still doing the bare minimum.  I want to get more exercise, but more importantly, I want to be more active every day.  I still feel like I'm not moving around as much as I should be; I'm hoping the weather will improve soon so I can get outside more.

Moving Forward

No changes in daily calories or water consumption (both seem to be working fine).  No new adjustments to my plan.  Goals for this week (Next 10 Days):

1. I'm going to shoot for another 5 pounds.  I'm beginning to discover that I do better when I challenge myself to goals that are very hard to hit.
2. I want to make a conscious effort to be considerably more active over the next 10 days.  This is going to be tough for me as I have a lot going on at work right now and I am expecting to put in some long hours at the office next week.

I hope you all are enjoying a good weigh-in as well.  Thanks for all the support.  Stay Strong!

Day 20 - Weight Loss Results

Starting Weight – 330

Day 10 Weight – 322

Current Weight – 319

Period Weight Loss – 3 Pounds

Overall Weight Loss – 11 Pounds

3 More pounds!  I'm happy, though I had set the period goal at 4 pounds and didn't quite get there.  One thing I forgot about, since I'm weighing in every 10 days instead of every week there will be some periods where I will go through 2 weekends between weigh-ins.  I've said before that weekends are my toughest time, and I probably should have taken that into account this time.  Regardless, I have lots of good things going on right now and there's still lots of opportunity as well.

What went well

My first highlight of the period has to be my performance on the Friday (1/18) right after my last weigh-in.  On the day before (The day I posted my last results), Virginia had a pretty severe snowstorm.  Well, not actually severe in my book (I lived in Maine for a while), but definitely enough to wreak havoc in the area.  No kidding, I had literally just posted my 10 day results and was getting ready to go read some of the blogs I'm following when the power went out at my house.  I live in a rural area and given the magnitude of the wet, heavy snow, I figured we might be getting ready to see an extended power outage.

By morning, my concerns appeared to be coming to reality as we still didn't have power and it was pretty cold in the house.  I had to go to work so I took a shower in the dark with what was going to be the last of the hot water.  It's funny, I didn't even think about healthy eating until after my shower when I suddenly realized that I couldn't cook my oatmeal and didn't dare open the refrigerator to get out some hard boiled eggs.  Not only that, but I didn't have any snacks or a lunch to bring either.

Now folks, let me tell you that these types of events in my life are exactly what I use as an excuse to stop eating healthy.  When I look back at my past failures, you can definitely see a pattern of me utilizing changes in my routine (vacation, special events, new job, etc) as a great excuse to stop living a healthy lifestyle.  What has me so proud is that this time I recognized it and told myself that I was going to have to find a way to deal with it.

I stopped at the local Sheetz for breakfast.  I was thrilled to discover they sold oatmeal at their deli; I got 1/2 cup of oatmeal with dried fruit, a small veggie breakfast wrap, and a cup of coffee.  For lunch it was back to Sheetz for a roast beef wrap, an apple, and a banana (I never even realized they sold fresh fruit!).  At dinner time I took the family to Red Robin and I had a plain burger with lettuce and tomato and a side salad instead of fries.

Fortunately, by the time we got home that evening the power had been restored!  I didn't even try to estimate the calories, but I suspect that If I did go over my 2500 calorie limit, it wasn't by much.  I might not have hit my calorie target and I certainly didn't get to spread my calories out over 4-6 meals, but this was a small battle that I won that could have had huge consequences if I had made different (poor) choices.

Although overshadowed by the power event, another aspect that went well for me was the beginning of establishing my morning routine.  I know I said I was going to write it out and put it on my bathroom mirror, but I didn't.  However I did see progress and I believe that by the end of the first 30 days I will be well on my way to following my morning routine every single day.  In fact, I actually got up this morning (on a Sunday) at my normal work week time and followed my morning routine.

Areas to Improve

As I said above, there is still plenty of room for improvement.  For starters, my water intake slipped a little.  I missed my water target 5 of the last 10 days, but what was more troubling to me was that I missed it for 3 consecutive days during the week.  I know my body and I know that the weight does not come off that well if I don't get my water in each day.  I actually believe I would've lost another pound and hit my target for the period if I had done better with my water consumption.

The other area that needs improvement is exercise.  Daily exercise is not a full blown habit for me just yet.  To be honest, I believe I only exercised on 4 of the 10 days this period.  As I lose more and more weight, it will get much harder to keep moving forward if  don't establish daily exercise as a habit.  However, I am far from beating myself up over this.  50 days ago I quit smoking!  20 days ago I started eating healthy!  I know I can't be perfect and change everything at once and I already have a lot of change going on right now.  At the moment my philosophy is this: Any exercise I do each day is better than what I used to do.  Some day soon I will need to work on this, but that day is not today.

Moving Forward

Like last time, I don't see the need to make any changes to my plan just yet, but their may be some small tweaks on the horizon (after my first 30 days).  I did hit my target for sticking to plan; I stuck to all the individual elements of my plan 76% of the time.  This was a little less than last period, and was mainly due to exercise (40%) and water (50%).

I'm setting this period goal at 4 pounds again.  I'm actually excited to get through these next 10 days; if I can lose the 4 pounds I will have lost 15 pound in my first 30 days. Not too shabby, in fact I only managed to lose 17 pounds during a 30 day weight loss challenge and I was starving myself and miserable the whole time. This time I'm much happier and so far (knock on wood) the change hasn't been too difficult.  Good luck to everyone out there!

Day 10 - Weight Loss Results

Starting Weight – 330
Current Weight – 322
Period Weight Loss – 8 Pounds
Overall Weight Loss – 8 Pounds

It’s hard for me to be critical about anything when I lose 8 pounds in 10 days, but as promised, I will look at both the positive and negative aspects of this last period:

What went well

Obviously I was doing something right to lose that much weight in just 10 days.  Without a doubt, my biggest success came from what I ate.  I stuck to my plan of 5-6 meals each day and kept my calorie total below 2500 calories on all but about 2 days (and I was only over by about 100 calories on those days).  I ate plenty of fruits and vegetables, and had a nice big breakfast to start my day off right.

I posted my plan this week, but I haven’t posted my goals yet (but I will soon).  One goal that I haven’t mentioned in any of my posts yet is that I am trying to stick to all the components of my plan 75% of the time.  What does that mean?  I have a list of items from my plan on a piece of paper in my bedroom.  Every night I put a check next to all the items that I met the target and at the end of the week I can add it up to see my % to plan.  I like this because it’s hard to be 100% perfect all the time.  In the last 10 days I was able to stay on plan 79% of the time.

I also did extremely well with my water consumption.  My goal on water is 100 ounces each day.  I did not have a day less than 80 ounces and that only happened twice.  The rest of the time I hit my target.

Lastly, I did a rigorous workout last Saturday.  Weekends are my Achilles’ heel; I have a tendency to become a lazy slob on the weekends.  Not only did I eat well all weekend, but on Saturday I completed 60 minutes of strength training first thing in the morning.

Areas to Improve

Although I had a great 10 days, there is still plenty of room for improvement.  For starters, I still haven’t been able to establish a morning routine.  As I’ve said before, this is very important for me to do.  I did well for about the first 2 or 3 days and then I started “ignoring” the alarm clock.  I think I need to write out my morning routine and post it on my bathroom mirror.  It might sound silly, but maybe that will help motivate me by seeing it every day.

Because my morning routine didn’t go so well, my exercise plan also died out as the days went by.  At first when I missed my morning workout I made it up in the evening, but eventually I started missing days altogether.  Sunday was an exercise disappointment after such a great workout on Saturday.

Finally, I also realized (too late) that I might have pushed myself a little too hard with the strength training.  Although the workout on Saturday was satisfying, by Sunday I was too sore to do anything and I basically felt that way up until Tuesday this week.  I’m not saying that’s the only reason why I didn't excercise, but it didn't help.

Moving Forward

I’m not going to change much for the second 10 days; I’ll be keeping my calorie and water targets the same.  I am going to set a goal to write out a morning routine and post it in my bathroom and I want to put some effort into doing it every day.  As for a new weight target, I’m going to go with 4 pounds in the next 10 days.  It was great to hit 8 pounds this period, but I know some of that was just water weight and it will be a little harder to shed the pounds in the next 10 days.  Best of luck to everyone else out there!

What Went Wrong?

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George Santayana

OK, so I have no intention of dwelling on the past, what’s done is done and I can’t go back. However, there is something to be said about understanding what went wrong and then learning from it. That is the point of this post; to evaluate my most recent failure and determine what adjustments I can make to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Failure #1 – Un-sustainable Path

Have you ever been in a triathlon? If you are reading my blog regularly, then probably not :) but I’m sure you’ll still follow the analogy. Triathlons are one of the most grueling endurance races out there. Many entrants never even finish; occasionally you will see highlights of people who literally just collapse… their bodies are done and they can’t move one more step forward. These people failed because they were on an unsustainable path, the pace they set for themselves was too much for their body to handle.

When I look back at my past posts, I see that I started at 297 in November 2009 and ended up at 270 by the end of March 2010. 27 Pounds in in 5 months doesn’t seem unsustainable, but if you look closer, I was at 288 at the start of March 2010. I lost 9 pounds in the first 4 months and then 18 in the last month.

When I did the 30 day challenge, my diet and exercise regimen became unsustainable. It became more important for me to win than it did to be healthy. By the time I was done with that challenge I was completely burned out emotionally. What you don’t see in the blog is that Big D. and I started a second challenge in April. We didn’t even finish because we were so burned out; we just both agreed to stop about 2 weeks in.

Failure #2 – Loss of Accountability

Why did I start blogging in the first place? I started blogging for several reasons, but one of them was to add some more accountability. I truly know quite a bit about losing weight (just not keeping it off), but you can’t write about weight loss if you’re not losing weight. Somewhere along the line I convinced myself (in the midst of being burned out from the 30 Day Challenge) that I was spending too much time blogging and not enough time focusing on losing weight. What a crock! Once I stopped writing it became easier and easier to cheat. In fact, after about a month, I stopped weighing in altogether. Not only did I lose the accountability from the blog, but then I started losing accountability to my family and friends, and eventually to myself.

Failure #3 – Failure to Stop the Backslide

If the unsustainable path was the first domino in my failure, then failing to stop the backslide was the last. The road to weight loss is never a straight line. Think about how many times you’ve said to yourself “If I can lose 2 pounds every week for a year I will have lost over 100 pounds!” Ever know anyone to do it that way? Plenty of people have lost 100 pounds in a year, but I can guarantee you no one did it by losing exactly 2 pounds per week. Weight loss has its ups and downs.

After I was burned out and after I stopped blogging, there was a time when I could see myself backsliding into the bad habits. Instead of choosing to get back on the wagon, I used my small failure as an excuse to keep on failing. Have you ever said to yourself “well I already cheated today and blew the entire week (on Tuesday), I might as well enjoy it and start fresh next week.”? That’s what I did, but weeks actually turned into months and eventually 2 years had passed.

Failure #4 – Forgetting Your Priorities

I ‘ve mentioned it a few times before, but my heaviest weight ever was 349. When I hit 349 it was still just me and Mrs. FogDog; the little tikes hadn’t shown up yet. At that time I vowed that I would make my health a high priority in my life. Then all this other stuff starts to happen to you; kids, career changes, moving, etc. Just a few months after I stopped blogging, I actually received a big promotion. It was a completely different kind of job than I had in the past and it involved managing others. I’ve been successful my entire career because when I get into something, I tend to bulldog it until I do it near perfectly. This job was no exception and the next thing you know I was working 60+ hour weeks and pretty much ignoring everything else around me except for my new job. That lasted for just about a year. With all this going on, I still had other commitments as well, so my health became the casualty. The results show, not only did my weight take off, but now I’m on blood pressure medication from all the stress at work.

Learning From Your Mistakes

As I said, I’m not going to dwell on the past, but I do intend to learn from it:

1. No more challenges, contests, or visions or “Biggest Loser” type weight loss numbers. Just stick to a sustainable plan that I can live with

2. Keep Blogging (Even if no one is reading) and keep holding myself accountable

3. Prepare for failure! Eventually I will have a backslide so I need to be prepared now. Once it happens, accept it, get back on track, and move on.

4. Don’t forget your priorities. Every morning when I take that BP pill I remind myself why my heath needs stay near the top of my priorities.

Day 1 – And my starting weight is… Unknown???

Ok so the new year has come and gone, time to get this weight loss started. I just got back from vacation on Monday and decided I would start on Tuesday (yesterday). There were really 3 big reasons why I chose January 8th:

1. I wasn't ready with my plan and goals at the start of the year
2. I was planning a vacation on January 5-7
3. January 8th marks 30 days since I've quit smoking

Part of my new plan is to have a morning routine that includes some exercise so I got up yesterday at 5:30AM. Obviously since it’s the start of my new weight loss journey, I wanted to get on the scale and see my starting point. I got on my Wii Scale and prepared myself for my starting weight. The result… “oops you’ve exceeded my maximum weight limit”. I stepped off and then back on again (you know, because somehow if I stand a little different, maybe lean forward a little, the result might change). No good, I’ve exceeded the weight limit of my Wii scale. I had just weighed in at 327 before Christmas, so my guess is the scale tops out at 330 so that will be my starting point.

I’ve had this Wii scale for 4 years and this is the first time I’ve managed to exceed the weight limit on it. Oh just how far I have fallen! My wife seemed to be bothered by it; I think because she thought it was going to be a de-motivator for me. The truth is, I said to myself “Perfect, you’ve just hit rock bottom! Nowhere to go but up.” And that’s how I started my day.

I made it through the day quite easily; I wish all the coming days would go so well (not likely). I met my calorie intake goal, got almost 60 minutes of exercise in, and met my water goal. By the end of the day I was pretty tired so it was off to bed at 9:30PM.

That brings us to today. I managed to get up on time so I could get a workout in before work. Of course as still curious about my actual weight so I got on the scale again this morning. SUCCESS! It worked; I weigh 329.7. I typically don’t weigh myself more than once per week but I really wanted to see just how close I was to 330. Now I know.

So now it’s on, let the weight loss begin. In the coming days I’ll be posting my goals and my plan, both of which are quite a bit different from the last time. Best of luck to all of us!

30 Day Challenge Week 3 : Fringe Blogger

In case you haven't noticed, I've started to become what I call a fringe blogger.  There just aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things I want and need to do, so something has to scale back.  I do truly enjoy blogging and I hope my articles inspire others, but for now I've decided to scale back a little.  Where I used to write 3-4 articles each week, for now I'll be trying to get out 1 or 2.  This would bother me if not for the fact that I'm backing off on the blogging mostly because my physical activity has really taken off!  This 30 day challenge was a great tool for me, I really feel great these days.  That has translated into a lot more activity around the house and that is just helping me all the more! 

However, even though I'm scaling back on the writing, you can be assured that I'm still reading the blogs I'm following.  I haven't been commenting lately because I'm having issues with my work PC, but I try to keep up with everyone's blogs during my lunch hour. 

On the weight loss front, I would like to mention that yesterday I had to adjust my belt up a notch!  My wife says that my weight loss is noticeable and I'm dying to find out how much I've lost.  One more week to go on the 30 day challenge; we weigh in on Friday morning.

I mentioned before I started the challenge that I was dropping from 2500 calories per day to 2000.  Since then I've discovered that I am quite satisfied at that level (assuming I post a big loss next week).  I really haven't felt like I was starving and I really haven't noticed a big difference in how much less I'm eating.  In the second week I tried dropping down to 1800 calories for a couple days.  I ended up feeling run down and generally miserable by the 3rd day, so I quickly went back to 2000.  Figuring out how much you should eat is a process and is as unique for each person as a fingerprint.  To all of you out there who are still struggling to find your "zone" I would stress "just be patient and listen to your body".

As far as my exercise routine goes, week 3 has been a little slack.  I've missed a couple workouts, but I don't feel all too bad because the misses were in favor of doing other active things.  Granted 30 minutes on the elliptical is probably more rigorous than a round of golf but I need to enjoy the exercise I'm getting too.

Eating in week 3 has been exceptional!  I've stayed in between 2000 and 2100 calories all week long.  I also had a couple small victories that made me proud and had my wife believing that I truly have changed my ways.  First, she bought a dozen cookies for the kids early in the week.  I considered having one a couple times in the evenings, but at 190 calories each I just couldn't do it.  I'm happy to say that the kids ate the last of them last night and I never did have one.  The second victory came on Wednesday; we got a free lunch at work for hitting our monthly targets last month.  We each got a sub, chips, and a big cookie and there was soda to drink.  I'm happy to report that I ate my 6" sub and chips, had water instead of soda, and brought my cookie home for the kids.  The total for lunch was only 585 calories (the cookie itself would have been another 480).  All afternoon that cookie was begging me to eat it, but I refused and it felt great to be able to bring it home instead.

So now I'm into the last week of the 30 day challenge.  During this last week I plan on exercising as much as possible.  I'm playing golf on Saturday and the weather is supposed to be nice all weekend so I'm planning on making the most of it and getting a lot of outdoor activities in.  I might not hit the 15 pound goal, but I'm sure going to give it the college try.  Stay Strong!