Day #196 - Flipping the Switch

Starting Weight - 347

Weight Last Week - 324

Current Weight - 317

Weight Lost Last Week - 7

Total Weight Lost This Year - 30 lbs

For the first half of the year I only managed to lose 10 lbs.  The best thing I can say about my first six months was that I managed to not gain more weight.  However, in the last 3 weeks I've managed to double up on what I had lost so far adding a surprising 20 lbs to my total.  7 more lbs last week and 20 lbs in 3 weeks, obviously I'm thrilled.

I've been thinking about this post all week, trying to come up with some way of describing how I'm feeling since I totally gave up sugar and started eating a low carb diet.  It's really hard to share because I've never really felt this way before... EVER! 

After the first week of sugar detox it's like a switch flipped inside my head.  A switch that's never been touched before, something that lay dormant inside me with cobwebs all over it.  My appetite... gone.  My cravings for certain foods... gone.  These two things alone are great, but it's even more than that.  My concentration is improved, I'm doing better in my job.  My outlook has improved, I'm not seeing my mood go up and down as much.

To all of you out there who have written about the evils of sugar, let me apologize for how I used to feel.  I used to read those posts and think that it was all wrong... that anything was OK, even sugar, if it was in moderation.  I never realized how sugar had such a hold on me, not just cravings for more sugar, but overall cravings and appetite for even non-sugar foods.

As a testament to how this switch has flipped, let me share with you some information about my last 3 weeks...

In the last 3 weeks I have lost 20 pounds.  I have not felt deprived in any way and have not had a single craving (after sugar detox).  During this time of losing about 1 pound per day I have gone out the eat 3 times...  The first time I went to Chinese buffet.  I ordered water and stuck only to non-breaded items, vegetables, and meat.  Any of the dishes that had a sweet flavor were skipped.  I walked out completely satisfied, not needing dessert.  The second time I went to a burger joint for lunch .  I ordered a big fat juicy burger with bacon and an egg on top, but instead of a bun I got it on a lettuce wrap.  Instead of fries I got a side salad.  The third time I went out, we went to a steakhouse.  My daughter wanted ribs so bad but they don't have them on the kids menu.  I ordered a rack of ribs to split with her and we split the sides; she got the mashed potatoes and I got the side salad, again, picking out the croutons.  Rolls came out early on and it was no issue to watch everyone else have them, I just munched on a few peanuts.  All this and I'm still losing weight week after week.

With each passing week I see just how much food used to consume my thoughts.  When I woke I used to think about getting a nice big breakfast and no sooner than after breakfast was over my thoughts would turn to what I had for snacks or what I wanted to eat for lunch.  I used to think about food all the time.  No so much anymore, food is starting to become an afterthought.  I'm not bored with what I eat, but at the same time, I'm not excited about food either.  My trips out to eat were more enjoyable because of the people I was with and the discussions we had; the food was not the main attraction!

So this is the best I can do to explain where I'm at right now.  I can't promise this approach works for everyone, but it certainly seems like I've found my path.  I still have a long way to go, but my confidence is very strong that I can get there going in the direction I'm going.  After next week I go on vacation and I plan to continue my losing ways right through it.  When I return I will go after my next challenge... getting more exercise. 

Stay Strong!

 

[Photo: Flickr / Playing Futures: Applied Nomadology]

Day #182 - A Change in Plans

In my last couple of posts I talked about a major mental shift where I wanted to stop focusing on diet and instead focus more on just living a healthy lifestyle.  I could almost feel the eye rolling from the blogging world as I published that post.  Well here I am a few weeks later and I'm happy to say that those weeks were not a disaster.  I stuck to my new plan and truly enjoyed it.

I've been doing well, eating reasonably healthy with a few splurges here and there.  My mental state has been strong.  I didn't get that job in Wilmington and I actually felt a little relieved that we didn't have to move again so quickly.  All in all it was a pretty good 3 weeks.  The only problem... I didn't lose any weight.

I knew that going away from dieting and instead just trying to be mindful and make good choices would slow my weight loss down.  I kind of thought that maybe I would lose about 0.5 pounds each week and it would slowly creep down over the next couple years, but after a month, I went from 337 to 337, exactly 0 pounds lost. 

Not losing any weight was a little surprising, but that alone wouldn't be enough to get me to change my mind, I'm as happy now as I've been in a long time so what if I'm not losing weight.  However, a trip to my new doctor helped me change my mind...

2 weeks ago I went for my first physical in this new area.  I found a great doctor to be my physician and when we met, I also found out he specializes in bariatric medicine.  I got my cursory physical, but we really spent a lot of time talking about the history of my weight.  I told him everything about my successes and failures all the way up to my current mode of just trying to be healthy and keeping a strong mental focus and awareness.  Although he didn't really roll his eyes, I could tell by the look on his face that he wanted to.

The doctor told me that he likes someone that's a little overweight to lose weight slowly over time in order to reduce the risk of just putting it back on.  It made sense to me.  "However", he continued, "you are not just a little overweight, you are SEVERELY overweight."  He told me that I needed to start seriously dropping pounds and he was giving me 6 months to show some serious progress.  He told me that my best approach would be an Atkins style of eating; no sugar and highly restrictive on carbs.  After that, if I didn't get anywhere he said the next step would be to talk about weight loss medications, and failing that, we would next discuss weight loss surgery options.  It was a little dis-heartening to have someone shoot down your plan, but I pride myself on not dismissing other people's opinions just because they are different from mine.

I went home and spent the next couple days thinking about what the doctor had said.  Atkins? That is one diet that I never tried.  Back in the 90's I remember a guy at work who was doing Atkins and I can remember him sitting down at break end just eating nothing but 10 slices of bacon.  I remember telling myself that Atkins had to be the most unhealthy diets in the world and that I would never do that.  It's funny how certain events can mold your perception because up until now I've never really considered Atkins to be a healthy choice for weight loss.

I thought about my current plan and situation more, and then it came to me... There's nothing wrong with my mindset, it's just the timing is off.  The mindset I've been carrying around for a while now is the mindset I will need to have AFTER I lose all this weight.  Once the weight is gone I need to practice mindful eating and won't need to weigh myself all the time.  After I lose the weight I need to stop worrying about counting things and instead just focus on being healthy.  My current mode is that of someone who is on a maintenance plan!

So I got the Atkins book out at the library.  I don't particularly like the book, but the science behind it seems reasonable, so 6 days ago Mrs. FogDog and I started the Atkins Phase I plan.  This first week was brutal, I had headaches, I was tired, and at times felt a little nauseous from cutting sugar and carbs from my diet.  Fortunately, and as the book promised, that has now gone away and I feel much better.  Tomorrow is my first weigh-in and I am hoping to see a really good number.

So now my plans have changed and I find myself back at putting a serious focus on dropping pounds.  At the start of the year I made a goal to drop 100 pounds.  That's probably not going to happen given that it is now July, but my goal is to go back to the doctor in 6 months 50 pounds lighter. 

I'll keep blogging periodically to show my progress; wish me luck.

Stay Strong!

 

Day #150 - I'm Done Trying to Lose Weight

Today marks the end of 5 months of focus on improving my health with 7 more to go!  So far I've managed to quit smoking and drastically reduce my alcohol consumption.  Today I add something new, I'm going to quit trying to lose weight!

Yes you are reading correctly, I said that I am giving up on trying to lose weight.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm overweight and I recognize that I need to lose close to 150 pounds.  I haven't stopped caring about my health and I have no intention of staying at my current weight, I've simply decided to shift my focus.

My entire adult life has been spent focused on trying to drop pounds on a scale.  I've tried weight loss plan after weight loss plan.  Some have been successful (for a short while) and some have been total disasters.  Ultimately the one thing they all had in common was that eventually, whatever weight was lost came back and in some cases a few pounds more.

The best way to solve a problem is to focus on, and eliminate the root cause.  For years my focus has been on losing weight, but in reality, my weight isn't my problem.  My weight is the result of the problem, not the problem itself.  I've spent so much time trying to fix the effect instead of focusing on the true problem.

So what is the true problem?  The true problem is that I do not treat my body with respect.  Because I do not treat my body with respect I am overweight, I have sleep apnea, I have knee pain, etc. 

So why don't I treat my body with respect?  Well, that's what I need to focus on.  For one, I don't think my life is fulfilling.  I also don't deal with stress real well.  There are probably a great number of things that I need to work on and hopefully in the months to come I will identify them and work on getting better.

So what do I mean when I say I'm not going to try to lose weight and instead focus on treating my body with respect?  It means that I will no longer spend time developing restrictive eating plans to follow or exercise regimes.  It means that I will no longer obsess about what the scale reads and I will not zone in on just one measure of my health.

I'm trying something new; my belief is that if I can focus on treating my body with respect and fix the things that cause me to abuse my body, then the weight (and all my other health problems) will begin to take care of themselves.  I know this might seem a little hokey to some, but is it any crazier than trying over and over again to lose weight only to end up with the same result.  

In the days ahead I will post more details about where I'm going.  Your welcome to come along for the ride... who knows where it's going to end up.

Stay Strong!

Day #149 - Impressive Trip Home

I'm happy to be back in Virginia!  The business trip was terrible and all I wanted to do was get home.  I mentioned in a previous post that I bought an audio book for the trip, it was called "What are you hungry for?" by Deepak Chopra.  I wish I could say that I highly recommend the book, but I can't.  It was OK in the sense that it really got me thinking through the trip, but I struggled with the fact that the author chose to do the audio (with his fairly strong Indian accent) and the book felt like it jumped around.  There were 2 sections that I really enjoyed and 3 sections that I just didn't care for at all.  The first part of the book put a lot of focus on understanding that a lot of times we don't eat because we are hungry, but rather, because we are missing something in our lives.  I enjoyed that section.  There was also another section dedicated to stress and stress eating coupled with awareness eating (and living). The rest of the book jumped around a little and it spent way too much time focused on the different "tastes" as well as the healing power of certain spices.  Unabridged didn't help either as the author often would call out all the foods from a list, something that would have been glazed over if you were reading instead of listening.

As I said it was successful to the extent that it got me thinking about myself and I'll be posting about some changes I'm going to make in the coming days.  I've already began to work on these changes which included my eating on the trip home.  I was able to stop for a coffee at 10AM and NOT get a bagel or donut.  Under normal circumstances I would, especially since it was on the company dime, but I wasn't hungry.  Lunch turned out to be a great Cobb salad and fruit bowl.  No junk food, no sugary drinks, and no dessert.  Dinner was equally well handled and I'm eager to get rolling again and get back to my healthy living.

Tomorrow marks the 5 month point of my journey.

Stay Strong!

 

Day #146 - Say it Isn't So!

When my eyes popped open first thing this morning I knew... I forgot to post yesterday!  For 144 days I posted at least something, it wasn't much sometimes, but always something.  What's strange is that I really simply forgot.  It wasn't like I had an incredibly busy day, I just forgot.  I got home late from work and then we watched a show with the kids and I ended up going to bed early because I was tired.

It's kind of a pointer at where I've been lately with my mindset.  I'm not doing bad with eating, but at the same time, healthy eating isn't really on my mind like it was just a month or two ago.  I've been doing a lot of deep thinking, but it's not about health, it's more about me and my life.

I'm not going to get too worked up over this, it was bound to happen.  I'll be traveling next week and my schedule will be very hectic.  There might be future days when I simply can't post.

On the bright side, I got on the scale this morning and saw that I lost 1.5 pounds for the week.  As I said, I'm not doing bad, I'm just not dieting like I usually do.  Come to think of it, maybe this is how it should be.  Maybe I just need to be better than I was and make slow changes over time to get where I want.

As I said, I'll be traveling to NY tomorrow and won't be back home until Wednesday.  It's a 6 hour drive each way so I was thinking about downloading an e-book or two for the ride.  Maybe something about health and happiness.

One last note, I got a phone interview next week with the facility in Wilmington NC.  It's a big promotion opportunity and an absolutely great place to move to.  I don't think I have a great chance; it's a pretty big step to a different division, but even if it doesn't go well I'm still happy where I am.  We'll see how it goes.

146 Days in the books, on to 147.

Stay Strong!

Day #141 - Character Flaw

I know how to lose weight... 

I've read countless books, articles, and blogs about losing weight.  I have been on a ton of different eating plans.  through trial and error I have discovered how to take off my excess pounds, and I have lost weight on many occasions.  In my adult life my weight has been as low as 260 and as high as 350 and everywhere in between.  

I am motivated to lose weight...

I'm 42 years old and most days I feel exhausted from carrying all this bulk around.  My knees are showing early stages of arthritis; I already suffer from knee pain at night.  My kids are entering their teen years; there's still a lot I need/want to be able to do with my family.  I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

So I am motivated and I know how to do it, so how come I don't lose weight???

This year has been all about shifting my mindset and smashing perceptions that are not real.  Today I might need to smash another one of my perceptions... that I have tons of character. 

Character is something that you have no matter what anyone else thinks.  Character drives you to do great things, it helps you to deal with the tough situations, and it defines who you are.  Naturally we all think we are full of character, but the reality is that most of us don't have nearly as much as we like to think.

For years I always assumed that it must be some missing piece of the weight loss puzzle that kept me from dropping the pounds.  I explored the mental and the physical looking for that one thing I was missing.  The truth is, it's not the weight loss puzzle I need to solve; I need to improve my character.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I have no character.  What I'm saying is that one part of my character, the part about keeping commitments, is very weak.  I have a hard time staying committed to anything for too long.  I may have been with the same company for 10 years now, but in that time I've worked at 3 different facilities.  I don't stay committed to any one location for too long.  The same goes true for personal development, I make a commitment, but can rarely stick to it for any meaningful period of time.

I say my ability to keep commitments is weak but I know it's not non-existent.  For starters, I've been married for 17 years so I know it's possible for me to make long term commitments.  It's just something I need to work on.

I don't like admitting that I lack character, but it's something I need to do if I'm ever going to improve.  141 Days down; on to Day 142.

Stay Strong!

[Photo: Flickr / Purplechalk]

Day #134 - Technique or Resolve

Today I got back to my healthy eating ways.  I stuck to my eating plan, got my gallon of water in, and went a for a nice walk at lunchtime.  More importantly, today I felt like eating healthy, an important component that I've been lacking.

Yesterday I wrote about my trip to Virginia Beach.  I love riding in the car, it gives me time to think.  Mrs. FogDog and I talked about getting back at it and how we should approach it.  Should we go back to counting calories?  Measure everything out again?  Abandon carb cycling and go to something more balanced each day?  As we were having that conversation it just suddenly hit me and I said to Mrs. FogDog "It really doesn't matter!"  Of course she looked at me a bit puzzled so I went on to explain...

I had a friend in college that weighed over 300 pounds in high school.  Before he got to college, he managed to lose 100 pounds in 10 months.  When I asked him how he did it he told me that he decided that he didn't want to go away to college as the same fat person he had been.  So he decided to lose weight, but his technique was a bit peculiar.  Every day he drank almost 6 liters of diet soda and he ran or walked at least 3 miles a day.  Obviously he tried to eat healthier, but the diet soda and the running/walking were his primary plan. 

He told me that because he drank so much soda, he was never really all that hungry anymore.  I remember telling him that it was the worst diet I had ever heard of and his response was "It worked didn't it?"  It's nearly 20 years later and he's still thin.

I thought about my friend yesterday when we were driving in the car.  It wasn't his technique that got the weight off, it was his resolve to lose the weight before going away to college.  It was then that I had that realization that if you have resolve to lose weight, the technique doesn't really matter.  Conversely, even if you had the miracle weight loss cure, it would do you absolutely no good if you didn't first have the resolve to lose weight.

I'm convinced that if you have the resolve to lose weight, any technique will work for you.  Some might not be the most healthy, and some might cause you to take a little longer, but with resolve you will eventually lose weight.

On the other side of the coin, there are plenty of people out there who have had gastric bypass surgery to reduce the size of their stomach so they can't physically eat too much food.  This surgery is highly effective, but yet somehow some people manage to gain back their weight.  When I first read stories about people who regained after surgery I was astounded.  How was it even possible?  The truth is, without resolve any plan is doomed to fail no matter how good it is. 

I explained my thoughts to Mrs. FogDog and she understood.  Instead of focusing on our technique, we need to keep focusing on our mental state; we need to maintain our resolve or it just wouldn't matter. 

Of course this doesn't mean that we have no plan, we still continue to focus on eating healthy, unprocessed foods as much as possible.  We still have an unrestricted day at the end of the week and we still try to drink plenty of water and get some exercise.  However, what's more important is that we keep supporting each and try to maintain our resolve to be healthier because without that it doesn't matter what we put in our mouths.

Stay Strong!

Day #132 - Getting Back Into The Game

I got on the scale this morning to see that I didn't gain any weight.  I was a little surprised, I didn't eat real well this week and expected to see a couple extra pounds so I was happy with breaking even.

I'm sleeping better and my mood has improved.  My knee pain is greatly reduced and I've rested it as much as possible.  I think it's time to get back into the game.

The key ingredient is my mental focus.  If my head isn't in it, I won't succeed.  I'm going back to the basics; focus on getting through each day.  I have to keep reminding myself that food doesn't make me feel better, that food isn't the answer to my stress.

132 days ago I started a journey.  When I started I knew it would very hard and that I would be tested.  I didn't expect some of the things that have happened to me, but hey that's life right?  When I started I told myself that the most important thing, the one thing that mattered more than anything else, was that I did not give up.

And I haven't given up!  There were a couple times when I felt like it.  When I look back there were more than a few posts where you can almost see me starting to give up.  I still have another 228 days and I want to make each one of them count.  More to come as I get back at it...

Stay Strong! 

[Photo: Flickr / Levente Fulop]

Day #127 - Taking 800 Pounds Off

For a little while now I've been struggling with severe knee pain at night.  The pain has caused me to lose a great many hours of sleep over the last 4 weeks and my weight loss has come to grinding halt as a result.  I've done my best to not let my knee be an excuse, but that hasn't stopped me from losing my momentum.

Since then I've been looking for something, anything to use as a catalyst to get me back on track.  Today I might have found it...

This morning I had an appointment with an orthopedic specialist.  The guy was great and we had a conversation about my knee pain and my x-rays.  The good news is that there is no signs of major damage and he suspects it's just an arthritis flare-up.  He gave me a cortisone injection that he says should allow me to start getting some decent rest again.

The bad news... I'm 42 years old and have arthritis in my knee.  I'm too young for regular cortisone injections so he told me I could only have one.  I didn't realize the injections actually accelerate arthritis so you can't just go on forever getting injections.

The doctor firmly believes that my lack of sleep is preventing me from healing properly from this flare-up; this one injection should make me better and then I have to just take care of my knees. 

After he gave me the injection we talked about what I need to do moving forward.  In a nutshell my only option is to lose weight.  There are no pills, no treatment, no special exercises; nothing, but to lose weight.  He told me that when I go up and down the stairs I'm putting 8X my weight onto my knees.  If I can lose the 100 pounds I'm shooting for, then that would mean 800 pounds less stress on my knees!

So step #1 is to get a good night's sleep tonight.  Then I get up in the morning and start fresh toward taking 800 pounds off my knees.  127 Days are in the books, on to Day 128.

-Stay Strong!

Day #97 - Satisfaction

I knew that last week I did really well despite being sick.  I knew that when I stepped on the scale and it showed I gained 1 pound that it wasn't a true reflection of my performance.  I knew that in order to prove it, I would need to put the gain out of my head and stick with my normal consistent behavior for another week.  Today I stepped on the scale and confirmed what I already knew.

Last week I weighed 338, today I weighed 331.4 for a loss of 6.6 pounds!

I'm obviously thrilled with the results.  Take away that pound I gained last week and I still lost 5.6 pounds over the last 2 weeks.  Those are pretty good numbers.  In fact this marks the 6th week of focusing on losing weight.  So far I've lost a total of 16.4 pounds or roughly 2.7 pounds per week.

I also have the opportunity to get out of the dungeon... I've always weighed in a Wii Fit scale, but it only goes to 330 so I had to go out and buy a scale that went to 400 pounds.  There's no good place to put it as my bathroom is being remodeled, so I ended up putting it in the basement.  Every Saturday morning I have to go down there to weigh in.  Next week I will weigh in on the Wii Fit scale.

I can't tell you how many times I let a bad reading on the scale derail me the following week.  These last two weeks have taught me that I just have to be patient; remain consistent and the weight will come off.  My plan is working well and I don't feel like I'm suffering in the process.  I haven't been perfect by any stretch but when I trip up, I get back up as quickly as I can.

Another day in the books, on to week #7 and more consistency.

Stay Strong!

[Photo: Flickr / One Way Stock]

Day #90 - A Brief Look Back (and Ahead)

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I started this journey!  I can still remember the first day thinking about how long a road I had laying in front of me.  Now here I am already one quarter of the way through.

Overall it's been a real good quarter.  I set out with my 3 goals; Quit Smoking, Stay Sober, and Lose 100 Pounds.  Here's how I've done so far...

From the smoking perspective, outstanding is the only word that I can think of to describe my performance.  On day 1 I literally just stopped smoking.  No nicotine patches or gum, I just quit cold turkey.  90 days later and I don't even think about smoking.  I am absolutely thrilled to have this monkey off my back!

Alcohol was a bit more of a struggle.  Without smoking to deal with stress in January I turned to drinking more alcohol on the weekends.  Originally I planned to give up alcohol in February, but weeks just kept going by and I just kept drinking until the next thing you know it was March.  I did finally get control though, and now it's been 21 consecutive days of sobriety.

The weight loss was the last focus.  Over the first couple months my weight was all over the place.  With so many changes going on in my body it's no wonder.  By March I really started to get control and so far I'm about 10 pounds down from where I started.

So a quick recap, in the first 90 days:

1. 100% Smoke Free
2. 21 consecutive days of sobriety
3. 10 pounds lost

OK so now what?  Simple, just keep pushing forward one day at a time.  I feel like my first 2 goals are kind of on autopilot now; I just need to watch out for those rare impulse moments that can cause you to temporarily lose your mind.  So now I want to shift my focus hard toward the weight loss.  I'm setting myself a mini goal for these next 90 days.  I'm currently at 338 pounds, so my 90 day goal is to get under 300 pounds.  That will not be easy, but it is definitely achievable if I put my mind to it. 

With my added focus on weight loss I think now is also the time to get back into working out.  Walking has been great, but it's time to step it up a notch, so I'm going to start thinking about some cardio as well as some strength training.

I went back and read my Day #1 post and I can still remember how I felt that day.  I remember how the not smoking had me simply exhausted and I can remember just getting home and crashing on the couch.  Fast forward to today and I'm not the same person.  I can't believe how far I've come in just 90 days.  I can feel the changes and my mood is better than it's been in years.  I truly am getting excited about what the future holds.  I'm on a roll and I don't want to stop!

But let's not get too far ahead of myself, this journey is still going to take one day at a time.  90 days are now in the books; On to day #91.

Stay Strong!

[Photo: Flickr / Alberto Otero García   ]

Day #86 - The Significance of March

As March comes to a close I wanted to take some time to reflect on the month.  I never really discussed it (probably out of fear of failure), but I sort of viewed March as a "do or die" type of month.  When I started this 180 in 360 journey I set 3 goals for myself... Quit smoking, Quit drinking, and Lose 100 pounds.  I've clearly made great progress on quitting smoking, and I've started to make good progress on the drinking, but until March I really made no progress on losing weight.

When I look at losing 100 pounds I figure the best I can safely hope to do is lose around 10 pounds each month.  Having made no progress in January and February, I only have 10 months left.  Knowing that it will only get harder as I lose more weight I felt like if I couldn't lose at least 10 pounds here in March then it was highly likely that I wouldn't make 1 of my 3 goals.

Yes, I understand that it would have still been physically possible if I didn't make it and I also realize the world won't come to an end if I don't get all the way there, but psychologically I think it would have really been a blow if I believed I couldn't hit my 360 day goal after only 3 months (and that's how I felt In my head anyway).

Thankfully I had a good March.  I dropped 11 pounds giving me the hope that I can still make it.  It's going to be tough, there's not a lot of room for error.  One really bad week could put me out of it, but I can't think that way.  Instead I have to keep pushing forward one day at a time.  March is over and it's on to April and (hopefully) another 10 pounds.  We'll see in just 30 short days, but for now, on to Day 87.

Stay Strong!

Day #83 - End of Month Results and a New Challenge

It wasn't until I started putting my numbers into my spreadsheet that I realized this was the end of my first month of tracking my weight loss.  January and February were all about smoking and drinking; March was all about the weight (and no smoking and drinking too).

This morning I was pleasantly surprised to see another 2.5 pound loss for the week.  I started the month at 348 and finished at 337... A very respectable 11 pounds lost so far!

I also tallied up my second week of scores on my "healthy living index".  My first week I scored 6.4; this week I scored a 6.9.  A little improvement, but more importantly, consistent with the previous week's score.

This month I really have felt like I've turned a corner.  I feel like I'm heading into spring and summer firing on all cylinders and I'm starting to get excited about what I might be able to accomplish... I think I might be starting to believe!

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So now I need to turn to a new challenge for this week.  Unfortunately, Mrs. FogDog did not do so well this week posting a gain of 1 pound.  For the month she lost a respectable 3 pounds... a good pace for someone who only needs to lose about 40 pounds.  From the moment she got off the scale I could see she was discouraged.  She ate well all week, but last week she lost a bunch of weight and my belief is that her fluctuations are more about water.  Like I said she lost 3 pounds for the month.

Anyway, this event presents us with our first challenge... Staying the course.

This has been our pattern for as long as I can remember: We start eating healthier and we start losing weight.  Then one of us has a "bad" day and finds an excuse to do "bad" things (remember my trip to Chinese buffet this week?).  Usually we recover, but the from that one of us has a "bad" week and gets discouraged.  That person then proceeds to "drag down" the other person because misery loves company.  The other person joins in the spiral downward,  and a bad week for one then turns into a second bad week, but this time for two.  From there it just all falls apart and we end up back where we started and depressed.  Mind you, all of this happens on a subconscious level, it's not intentional sabotage.  One begins to sink and it becomes a convenient "excuse" for the other to follow behind.

So my new challenge for this week is to help Mrs. FogDog stay the course.  I need to not give her any excuses for having a second bad week.  I need to help her understand that the number from this week doesn't match the effort.  From a percentage-wise she's lost 2% of her weight where I have lost 3%.  She only weighs 160 and wants to get to 120.  that's less than a pound each week to hit her goal within a year.  My personal belief is that she should only weigh in once each month but you know how it is, especially when you have a husband dropping several pounds each week, you want to see results and it's hard to stay off the scale.

So this week we are going to break the cycle.  If I have to I'll be strong for the both of us and help her get past her discouraged feelings so that next Saturday she sees a better number.  We are both aware of the pattern which is the first step to beating it. 

Stay Strong!

Day #76 - What Consistency Can Buy You

I woke up at 6AM Saturday morning; I guess when you don't drink alcohol your body thinks it's just a normal day.  Anyway I got on the scale to see that I lost 7 pounds over the week and Mrs. FogDog lost 4 pounds!  I'm now back out of the 340's.

This is what consistency can buy you... consistent weight loss.  Yes, those numbers seem a little high for a week, but half of that is water weight so the numbers feel real good to me.  Now that I've managed to remain consistent day to day for a week, my next step is to stay consistent from week to week.

Remember, consistent doesn't mean perfect.  One night during the week I ate an extra 1 or 2 ounces of chicken at dinnertime.  I couple nights during the evening I was still hungry so I had a handful of nuts.  I even had ice cream Friday night, and I spent every evening after work on the couch.  I was far from perfect, but I didn't let those small, insignificant events give me an excuse to fall apart.

Interestingly, my proudest moment of the week isn't the amount I lost or the fact that I didn't drink last night.  It's actually the discovery I made about using my mood as an excuse to be unhealthy so much that it turned into a habit.  From that point on every time I felt like I was getting moody I reminded myself that my mood was not a good reason to go off plan because staying on plan or going off plan had no effect on my mood. 

Next on my agenda is devising a way for me to measure my consistency week to week.  Remember, this is about total health, not just weight loss.  The idea is that at the end of every week I should be able to tell how I did compared to other weeks.  The goal is to remain consistent from week to week.  I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do, but I want to make sure it's something that's easy but also worthwhile.

As I mentioned yesterday, my top priority this weekend is to not drink.  I already made it through Friday night, I just need to get through tonight.  Today I plan to spend the morning working on my bathroom and then the family is going on a hike in the afternoon.  Normally we hike on Sundays, but today is going to be much warmer than tomorrow.

Day #76 is in the books... oh wait, no it's not as I'm blogging in the morning.  Day #76 is underway, wish me luck.

Stay Strong!

Day #62 - The Small Changes CAN Make a Difference

I couldn't help it, I had to get on the scale.  I had to get on to see what the little changes would do.  If you've been following, this week I chose to do nothing more than focus on eating only healthy food.  Nothing processed, minimal carbs on 2 out of 3 days, and plenty of water.  No calorie counting, no extra exercise, limited sugar (morning coffee only).  It's all part of the entire process I've been going through over the last 60+ days; try to make small changes and move the needle slowly.

So how do you think I did?  Well for starters I'll say that I followed my plan quite well.  It wasn't perfect and I did end up drinking one night and eating some processed chips, but for the most part I stuck to it.  The result...

Starting weight on March 1 - 347.8
Current weight on March 7 - 344.6

First Week Weight Loss - 3.2 pounds

I'm happy that my plan is working.  This last week I did not go hungry.  When I felt hungry I ate, it just had to be healthy food.  Did I eat more than 4 ounces of chicken at dinner?  Yes I did if I was hungry.  Did I go out to eat all week?  Nope, I went out for lunch one time and ordered a salad and water.  I have no plans to go out to eat this weekend either.  I stayed away from processed junk and drank plenty of water.

So what's next?  Well I'm on vacation this week and I'll be remodeling my bathroom.  I expect that I will be burning more calories than usual so I'm going to stick to the plan as it is.  My in-laws are here this weekend and tomorrow I'll get plenty of exercise as we are taking them into DC to visit the Washington Monument and I'm sure we'll get plenty of walking.  With the added exercise I expect I'll be able to lose some more weight this next week; maybe another 3 pounds.

Stay Strong!

Day #60 - 2 Months Down and More Snow

I can't believe I started this new journey 2 months ago!  Time flies when you're trying to be healthy.  It feels strange, in some ways it feels like I really just started.  I can't believe I've managed to post everyday as well, it definitely keeps me focused on my goals.

I'm thrilled that I made it 2 months without smoking.  Of all the unhealthy things I was doing, that was absolutely the worst.  I don't even think about smoking anymore; something would have to go terribly wrong for me to start again.  The drinking and the eating are coming along nicely, I have to keep telling myself (almost daily) that I can't fix it all at once and be perfect from the start.  I have good days and bad days, but definitely many more good than bad.  What really has me excited is that I've made it through my most depressing months.  As spring comes I will begin to feel even better and with some success at my back I will be unstoppable!

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Today we got about 8 inches of snow.  For the DC area that is a lot!  Half of the people at my work left early or didn't even bother to come in.  As the maintenance and facilities manager I took the opportunity to get a little exercise and help my team at the same time; I went out and helped shovel sidewalks twice.  I'm really feeling it now, my back and legs are sore, but it felt good to help and it always helps to show the guys I'm willing to pitch in when they need it.

Right now I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the fact that I've managed to keep pushing on for 2 straight months.  I'd like to start thinking about the next month as spring is coming, but as I've said so many times, I'm just taking it day by day.

Stay Strong!

Day #56 - The Time Has Come

I'm now 56 days into this journey.  I've done well and I've had setbacks.  I've managed to stay completely 100% smoke free for every one of those days.  The alcohol, well not quite as well, but I'm still trying.  I've posted on this blog every single day; something I thought wasn't all that important but has turned out to be highly therapeutic for me.  As for eating... well let's just say that I'm hanging on trying not to gain weight and go above 349 (my highest weight ever).

These first 55 days have also been about finding the mental fortitude.  I've spent a lot of time focusing on how I feel.  I've worked at shedding the guilt and learning to forgive myself for not being perfect.  I've also learned a few things... I've learned that although I can lean on others for support, I cannot rely on it nor can I blame others for not providing it (just because you need someone to support you, it doesn't mean they are capable of it when you need it).  I've also learned how to cool a hot temptation by distraction.  I've also created 2 visions of my future self; I've spent some time picturing myself 10 years from now if I don't change my ways and if I do.  When I have those hot temptations I try to pause and picture myself as the guy who didn't change.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Anyway, from the outside one would never know how much change I've gone through in 55 days.  Even my wife doesn't really see it, but I do, and that's really what matters.  It all stems from one simple commitment to make my health my number one priority for 1 year and to do it one day at a time.

So now I've started to crawl and I'm ready to take my first step walking.  I'm pulling all three of my goals together and putting complete focus on meeting them.  Just a quick recap of my goals:

1. Quit Smoking - Complete
2. Quit Drinking Alcohol - Work in Progress
3. Lose 100 Pounds - Not yet Started

To be honest, I feel like I'm a little behind for reaching all my goals.  I really didn't anticipate the mental part of this journey taking so long to work through and I truly thought that quitting drinking would be a piece of cake. 

This morning I got on the scale...

347.8 lbs

 

This is essentially where I started on January 5th.  That's actually OK with me.  I lost a little bit of weight in the beginning but I knew it would be hard to sustain while not smoking.  Smoking is a stimulant and most people gain weight as your metabolism slows a little when you stop smoking.

 

I briefly thought about changing my last goal to just getting under 300 this year.  100 pounds is probably not too realistic, but 47.8 pounds in the next 10 months is very reasonable.  However, If I change my goal, I will be doing what I've always done... I will be selling myself short before I even begin.

 

No, I'm keeping my goals as they are.  If I don't make it then I don't make it, but at least I'll give it my best effort.

 

So as of today, I'll be focusing on all three of my goals at the same time.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm going to start by just focusing on eating only healthy food and following a carb cycle regime.  No calorie counting and no exercise commitment yet (though I will try to move a little more).  Still no smoking and still no alcohol.  It won't be easy, but as always I'll just take it one day at a time.  Here we go...

 

Stay Strong!

 

 



Day #50 - I'm Tired of...

I'm tired of being out of breath every time I go up and down the stairs

I'm tired of feeling exhausted at the end of every day

I'm tired of feeling worn out

I'm tired of having no energy to play with the kids

I'm tired of laying on the couch at the end of every day

I'm tired of working on my house for 6 hours only to be sore and lame for the next 6 days

I'm tired of...

I'm tired of being tired all the time!

I've reached day #50 in my journey and simply put, I'm tired.  My energy levels have been low for a long time now.  I chose to put some focus on quitting smoking and drinking before losing weight.  Those were important wins that I needed to do first, but neither one of them has helped me with being so tired all the time.

I know what I need to do... I know how to get energy.  I need to eat healthy food and exercise.  I'll feel better just from doing those two things.  Additionally, eating healthy food and exercising will help me to lose weight which will also give me more energy.  I need to start now because I can't take being tired all the time.

The time has come to add some serious focus on losing weight... and not feeling so tired all the time.  At the beginning of March I'm going to begin carb cycling again.  At first I'm not even going to worry about portions; I'm just going to focus on eating healthy food.  I'm going to do my best to avoid these things as much as possible:

• Pre-processed/Packaged Foods
• Processed Grains
• Refined Sugars
• Salt

I'm going to focus on trying to do these things as much as possible:

• Drink Lots of Water
• Eat Whole Foods
• Eat Lots of Vegetables
• Eat Plenty of Fruits (On High Carb Days)
• Eat Lots of Small Meals Throughout the Day

Pretty simple right?  Who needs a complicated plan?  I need to exercise as well, but we're going to take this one stage at a time. 

Hard to believe that it's taken me 50 days to get serious about the weight loss piece, but truthfully, it's exactly what I needed to do.  This journey is all about building the foundation that will help me to be successful long term; not just another flash-in-the-pan diet.

50 days down and plenty more to go.  On to day 51 and the preparation for my weight loss focus.

Stay Strong!

Day #45 - My Own March Madness

Today was just another stressful day.  There's no doubt I'm a little more short tempered at work since I quit smoking.  Quitting drinking isn't going to help either.  You know what though... I really don't care.  I'm not going to smoke or drink or overeat just so I'll be more likely to spare people's feelings.  To be honest I'm starting to wonder if I was a little too nice to people and most took advantage of it.

Anyway, not what I really wanted to talk about.  I know that I'm taking this journey day by day, but I couldn't help to think forward a little towards March.  By March I will have quite smoking for almost 2 months and I will have quit drinking for several weeks.  If I want to have a chance at 100 pounds lost this year (my third and final goal) I feel like I'm going to need to add more focus to weight loss.  So far I'm trying to contain the damage while I focus on the smoking (and now the drinking), but I have to start sometime.  So far I've only lost about 5 pounds.

I'm thinking about dedicating March towards getting back on my carb cycling diet.  I figure if I go hard all month I could probably drop about 30 pounds especially since I'm taking a week off during the month to remodel my bathroom and bedroom; activities that will require some hard physical labor.  I also think it's a good time as spring begins to show signs of coming and my mood generally improves when that happens. 

Like the rest of this journey I'm actually thinking things through instead of just making arbitrary decisions.  There are some pros and cons to doing my own "March Madness":

Potential Benefits

A successfully 30 day stint could jumpstart my weight loss and help carry me through the year.  30 pounds (or even close to 30 pounds) would be noticeable and help boost my confidence.  Additionally, shifting focus away from smoking and drinking could be a welcome distraction and adding exercise to my already busy routine could prove to be a stress reliever.  I have no big projects or travel plans so the month of March would be a good one to start.

Potential Drawbacks

Even if I'm successful, it could backfire on me if I feel burned out afterward and go right back to eating like a pig.  I might lose a bunch of weight in March only to gain it back and get depressed in April.  Also, I have to ask myself if I'm ready to add the weight loss burden.  Worse than not losing weight would be if I fell off the smoking wagon in the process.  That would hurt me mentally right now.

March might be a little too soon, but then again I might be giving myself excuses and not pushing it a little.  I know that I do much better when I get out of my comfort zone.

Anyway, I still have another full week next week to think about it.  Leave me a comment and tell me what you think.

Stay Strong!

Day #41 - Some Weight Lost and a New Commitment

I weighed in today to find that I lost another 2 pounds!  I'm happy that I can post a loss even if losing weight isn't the primary focus (at the moment).

This is going to be a very short post, but I did want to say I'm getting ready to make the next big commitment.  I believe that I might be ready to completely give up alcohol altogether.  The decision has been pretty much made, but I want to sleep on it one more night... Just like smoking I don't want to make this decision arbitrarily; it has to be firm.

On to Day #42.

Stay Strong!