Having been able to stay committed to this diet (57 days) I thought I would write a post about my motivations.. and since ‘top #’ lists are popular on the web, I am going to make this a ‘My Top 10 Diet Motivations”.. not really a countdown as I am not worrying about the order…
#10 – The Gift of Life
There are no elderly morbidly obese people… Obviously being fat causes your body to struggle just doing what it is supposed to do… and you get all kind of things like Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension (High Blood Pressure), etc… Losing weight (being more healthy actually) can help you live a longer life.
#9 – My Family
I have a wonderful family… I am enjoying having a wonderful family.. my wife… my kids… it’s a wonderful life that I am having… I want to extend that as long as I can… I want to be there for them for weddings.. grandchildren.. other major events that I would miss if I died early.
#8 – Being Inspirational
I am hoping that this weight loss will help motivate others… my family at the very least… So when I think about slipping up I try to think that I don’t want to be a bad influence like I have been… I have been following Less of Les… Les has gone from 511 to 184 (327 lbs lost)… No surgery, no pills, just eating right and exercise… he was 45 at the time.. For me he has been inspirational… I follow him on Facebook and one video he posted really hit home with me about sticking to it… If you are on this journey I suggest you see it… HERE
#7 – Public Perception/Appearance
I have said that you shouldn’t care what others think of you… and that is still my belief… but, I will say that being a huge as I have been for as long as I have been really makes you see the way others react to you and your size… When I walk into a room (restaurant, theater, etc.) I see people look at me.. I stand out because of my weight… I am really tall too (6′ 5″) so even thin I stand out… but it’s different… there is no stigma against tall people.. Your height is not under your control… your weight is… So I see reactions… and it does bother me a little… Many immediately think fat people are lazy.. fat people are inferior… we have no will power… Being of a healthy weight will end/reduce those reactions… Also, I hate the way I look… I have heard how Anorexic people have a body image that they are fat, even when they are skin and bones.. I have the opposite… if there are no stimuli that make me feel fat, I have a body image that is of normal size and weight… For example I am home watching TV I don’t feel fat… It’s not something that is in my mind… but If I see a picture of me, see myself in a mirror, am sitting in a booth at a restaurant that is too small for me I then have a body image that is consistent with what my body looks like.
#6 – My Physical Comfort
There are so many times where my size has caused me discomfort… I think the worst time was at ‘The Wall’ concert at MGM Las Vegas – Seats were so narrow that I left there with bruises on both outer thighs/hips… hurt for days after that.
#5 – My Health
I want to be healthy… I take too many medications… I don’t go out and do physical things… mainly because my weight makes it very difficult especially on my back… I want to have the option to get out there and help with something that I cant do now… I want to be able to go for a run… I need to not get winded when I exert myself a little..
#4 – I Need To Pee On A Grave
Hear me out on this.. I have sworn to myself and others that I will pee on a certain individuals grave… that person is not dead yet.. I need to outlive them just so I can accomplish this bucket list item. I am not going to give details but I will tell the world after it is done 😉
#3 – I Don’t Want To Be Fat When I Die
I really don’t know what caused this thought.. but it has been there for a long time… originally it was so the pallbearers would be able to lift me.. but I choose to be cremated now… I guess I still have this feeling because someone will have to move my body around anyway.
#2 – I Want To Bowl
I love bowling… when I was young that was my outlet.. something I was good at.. I was in league after league… It was awesome because there was no picking teams so I wasn’t picked last… At one point I was in 3 leagues a week… Monday night with my dad.. Thursday with Hillside Jr. High Bowling class and 2 back to back leagues on Saturday… I dreamed of being a pro bowler… Even into my adult hood that was a dream.. now I have stopped bowling… the last few times I went (at least 2 years ago) my left knee ached severely for days after… and now since I have the ongoing back issue I really don’t think I am physically able.. actually I could probably do it, but risk major issues with my body if I did… I miss it so much… I want to lose weight so I can be physically able to go bowling whenever I want.
#1 – Fear of Being Immobile
I have said to myself that I am a small injury away from being immobile… like the guys you see on TV… if I were to become immobile I would gain weight since there would be only a minimal expenditure of calories and I would be depressed.. I tend to eat when depressed or when I an upset… It would be a game changer.. that scares me… the more weight I lose the better my health and mobility will be… every pound puts the fear of being immobile a little further away.
That’s my list… I would love to hear some of your motivations… so comment if you are reading this
Weight: 366.6 pounds
Loss since 8/12/14 (58 days): 49.4 pounds
Loss since top weight (423.6 on 9/13/10): 57.0 pounds
Yesterdays food log is HERE
So close!!! I want that 50 pounds!!!
Did well yesterday… went out to the habit and splurged (while staying safely below my calorie limit) and had a double cheeseburger, tempura green beans w/ranch dip and a diet coke.. it was one of my higher calorie meals (1130 calories) but it was something that I was craving and it was so good!
My health is about the same… neuropathy the same… exercise about the same (meaning non-existent)… mood is hit and miss…
Weight: 367.0 pounds
Loss since 8/12/14 (57 days): 49.0 pounds
Loss since top weight (423.6 on 9/13/10): 56.6 pounds
Yesterdays food log is HERE
I have been floundering for a couple of days… eating more foods that aren’t the best use of my calories… I have lost some of the initial motivation… but then… out of the blue… I get a big weight swing… lost 4.6 pounds since yesterday… I have lost exactly 49 pounds in 57 days,, and I am feeling better now 😉 I got through the 370’s and am 1 pound short of 50 pounds lost…
I have to admit that for a long time I told myself that I couldn’t lose significant amounts of weight… I have a strange schedule.. I’m too old… I enjoy life and that includes eating large meals… Once I started losing I still had that little voice in the back of my mind saying that I wasn’t going to be able to continue this weight loss… Well today it is silent… I’m sure it will be back when my motivation lags… I just need to continue to ignore it and power through!
I am renewed with the ‘I Can’ attitude
Weight: 370.4 pounds
Loss since 8/12/14 (45 days): 45.6 pounds
Loss since top weight (423.6 on 9/13/10): 53.2 pounds
(Note: on the graph above you will see where the green, yellow and red lines jump together today.. this is when I reset them to make it more effective.. if you leave the lines the same from day one it makes it easy to slack off as there is a lot of distance to gain before you hit a line.. so resetting them lower makes it have more incentive to stick with it.)
Yesterdays food log is HERE
Been a couple of days since I wrote here… so let me review… Over the weekend I was kind of sick.. very sneeze and runny…
Friday 10/3/14
After the Simi Football game we went to Big Z Pizza… I got a salad bar and that worked well.. made it easy to not eat as much pizza…
Saturday 10/4/14
We went to Red Robin… They have a really cool app (and it’s on their website too) that allows you to build your meal down to the point where you can change each item on your burger…
I had a Jump Starter Fried Zucchini Sticks
Red Robin Zucchini is excellent! The only one I can think of that is equal or slightly better is Claim Jumper Zucchini… But it is too huge and calorie laden… I would eat it all and have 1000+ calories to log… Red Robin’s Jump Starter is a smaller portion… it’s 4 sticks and a side of ranch and is delicious… the zucchini is 205 calories… 1 oz of ranch is 112 calories… it was so good…
I also had a grilled chicken sandwich…modified it to be grilled chicken, pickles, lettuce, tomato, Heinz 57 sauce and grilled onions.. all on a regular bun… that’s 459 calories… I had it ala carte (no fries or side dish)… it was moderately satisfying…
Sunday 10/5/14
I ate too much at the end of the day… went over a little on the calories… I have recommitted to staying under from again.
Overall I still need to add to this to jump start the rate of my weight loss… Still want to start exercising… but it just hasn’t happened yet…
Weight: 373.6 pounds
Loss since 8/12/14 (45 days): 42.4 pounds
Loss since top weight (423.6 on 9/13/10): 50.0 pounds
Yesterdays food log is HERE
Well the momentum finally slowed and my dedication to the calorie counting and staying under my limit floundered some… but I am back and ready to jump back on this and get it done… I didn’t go completely crazy…
(got busy and never completed this post.. publishing anyway)
Weight: 373.6 pounds
Loss since 8/12/14 (45 days): 42.4 pounds
Loss since top weight (423.6 on 9/13/10): 50.0 pounds
Yesterdays food log is HERE
My wife outed me on Facebook 😉 That is why this is now the “Not So Stealth Diet”… I had been waiting to say anything on line until people started seeing the loss… but I never said anything to Cece or the kids so it wasn’t a big deal.. Lots of people were very positive about it and it was a really nice thing for Cece to do 😉
Yesterday I was home not feeling so well… and that turned into the first day in the last 45 that I have gone over my calorie limit… I went over by about 120 calories… I knew I was going over but I did it anyway… So I am refocusing today to avoid doing that again… I think the biggest problem yesterday was mid-day… I wanted to eat everything…
Today I am doing well.. I updated myfitnesspal and my calories got lowered again (since I weight less now than when I started)… they adjust about every 10 pounds lost… I am at work and very happy with my progress so far… today is 50 pounds since my all time high… I have not been this low since 12/07/12 so that is a good feeling.
Health is about the same… I still feel better than when I started. Tonight is the first home football game of the year for SVHS so I will there taking pictures. Not sure what dinner will be before the game.
Which brings me to TGI Fridays… On Wednesday we had dinner there.. and looking at the calorie counts on their menu’s it seems that they cannot be accurate… For example:
Fridays Shrimp
A dozen crispy, golden brown shrimp. Served with seasoned fries and cocktail sauce. – 730 calories
Seasoned Fries side shows 290 calories.. so that means the shrimp and sauce is only 440 calories.. depending on where you look online, generic fried shrimp are:
6-8 shrimp – 454 calories
12 shrimp – 314 calories (27 calories each)
I tried and tried to figure out something safe and I couldn’t… everything that were around the amount I wanted to use seemed really low for what it was… I just couldn’t trust it.. so I have a small Cesar salad with dressing on the side… not very satisfying at all… And then my stomach started hurting (it had been a little bit all day).. I guess from the lettuce… so when I got home I didn’t want to eat anything else.. that led to a day that I only had under 800 calories all day… not something I wanted to do… I guess if we want to go to Fridays again I am going to have to prepare by comparing some of their entrees with the same thing at other places and just go with the higher of the two..
Weight: 379.2 pounds
Loss since 8/12/14 (42 days): 36.8 pounds
Loss since top weight (423.6 on 9/13/10): 44.4 pounds
I have been trying to find a good way to share my food diary from the day before here and I am getting nowhere… best I could do is to make a PDF out of it and post a link… not sure if this would be beneficial to any of you, but it might be to me so I am starting a new category which is My Food Diary… posts can be seen HERE
Weight: 379.0 pounds
Loss since 8/12/14 (42 days): 37.0 pounds
Loss since top weight (423.6 on 9/13/10): 44.6 pounds
(Note: on the graph above you will see where the yellow and red lines jump down.. this is when I reset them to make it more effective.. if you leave the lines the same from day one it makes it easy to slack off as there is a lot of distance to gain before you hit a line.. so resetting them lower makes it have more incentive to stick with it.)
So as expected my weight loss has slowed… I was at a bad plateau for a while… oh course that makes it harder to stick to the calorie limit but I have been able to do it so far. I have been struggling eating much during the day (breakfast and lunch) and then eating a lot for dinner.. this is not the best way to do this.. am still using the MyFitnessPal app on my phone religiously and using their website as well, www.myfitnesspal.com… I track everything that I eat and drink and often plan out my meal on there first and then serve myself accordingly… This planning helps the most when eating out…
I have been trying to diversify my foods… I have added hard boiled eggs to my diet and some more fruit… but one of my downfalls has been diet sodas… I have been drinking too much of this and need to limit them to 1 a day and increase my water intake.My moods have not been good.. grumpiness from the diet and have had no motivation at all for anything. Am going to try my best to stay focused and try to not be in a bad mood.. I should be in a good mood since I am sticking to this and losing weight, right?
My health has been good.. I definitely feel an improvement overall… When I walk a flight of stairs I am not winded… It feels like my low back issue is a little better… My Peripheral Neuropathy pain in both feet is still constant and at times severe… I am hopeful that at some point the weight loss will help, but there is a good chance that it won’t help. I plan to schedule an appointment with my doctor when I hit 10% of my body weight lost (41.6 pounds will be 10%) and have a physical… when I hit 41.6 lost that will mean I have lost 21% of my goal loss of 198 pounds…
No one has said anything about me losing weight but I think it isn’t real obvious to others yet… For me my belly is MUCH smaller… it isn’t hard and protruding as much as it has.. I have been using notches in my belts that haven’t been used in awhile… I have worn a couple of shirts that were too tight to wear before.. so all in all I am happy with my progress so far.
Exercise is still something I need to dive into… there are no excuses really other than me just not doing it. I don’t need anything to go for a walk, ride the exercise bike, play the fitness games on xBox with Kinex…
No one commented after my last post asking people to let me know if they are reading this blog.. so I guess I am doing this for just me at this point… but please comment if you do read this at some point.
Weight: 384.8 pounds
Loss since 8/12/14 (35 days): 31.2 pounds
Loss since top weight (423.6 on 9/13/10): 38.8 pounds
Sticking to the plan still.. monitoring every calorie I intake and staying under the calorie goal. My mood has been okay and there have been some really difficult days with cravings, mainly craving to just eat a whole bunch of anything…
Last Friday I had a big dinner.. I stayed under my calories but it was huge.. 18 oz boneless Rib-Eye, mashed potatoes, etc. but that and the weekend definitely tough… I started and eneded the weekend at 387.0 pounds.. so I need to figure out a better way to avoid food at home.
My plan this week is to stay extra focused and keep well under on the calorie limit… try to work some light exercise in at least a couple of days a week and keep pushing to that first milestone.. losing 42 pounds (10% of my starting weight).. that would put me at 374 pounds 😉 If I can get back to the green line and stay there I would hit that goal in just 8 more days!!
If you are reading this please comment.. I always feel like I am the only one reading the posts 😉 Also if you click on any ad on this site it does help me out 😉
NOTE: This post wasn’t published on 9/13/14 when it was written.. I am posting now just so it is public.
Weight: 387.0 pounds
Loss since 8/12/14 (31 days): 29.0 pounds
Loss since top weight (423.6 on 9/13/10): 36.6 pounds
Exactly 4 years ago today I was at my all time high weight of 423.6 pounds…. I am still trying to get to a healthy weight but I do see recent progress toward my goal weight of 218.0.
Yesterday went well. I stayed well under my calorie limit and lost 1.8 pounds. Could have saved more but Pineapple juice was the an issue… I wanted to drink the entire bottle. Had BBQ Chicken for breakfast Veggies/fruit and pickles for lunch/snack and hamburger patty with cheese and rice with butter and soy sauce for dinner and a Skinny cow Mint Ice Cream sandwich for desert