- Joined
- 14 April 2002
- Messages
- 2,273
I have been meaning to come back to this thread for months and finally got around to it...
Here is my own personal update having met, exceeded, and then held my weight loss goals for 3 months. Hope this helps some of you who - like me - will probably struggle to maintain a good weight for their lives...
Rewind to end of July 08. After my 40th my wife through me a surprise birthday party. I saw the pictures and I was upset I had let me self go so far.
Two days later met with my doc and he confirmed my worst fears. I was officially fat along with some other big time concerns.
Not wanting to be fat or die young I made some immediate changes.
First thing I decided to do was track everything I eat, all my exercise, and my goals in my Windows Mobile device running Pocket Diet Tracker. It has a db of thousands of popular dishes, you can chart everything, put in your goals, etc. It calculates and does the rest. Very slick! This was the single most important thing I did. I had to unlearn what was healthy and what wasn't.
Second - I decided to work from home. I have a treadmill and a recumbent stationary bike. I fabricated a desktop out of Aluminum that transfers between the 2 and allows me to workout all day while I work out slowly. I also have a bowflex that I used for my breaks to do a quick set of whatever.
Once the pounds started dropping I began training for the first of 2 marathons, 2 1/2 marathons, and countless 16-20 mile training runs. Nothing shreds pounds more then running IMO. If you are like me and work 16 hours / day it is awesome to completely disconnect from the "grid" and go AWOL and be with nature.
Other changes. Stopped the 3-6 pack / night and the forth meal that came along with it. Replaced beer/wine with green tea.
Many of these changes were very hard for an Italian guy that lives for wine, pasta, cannolis, and pretty much everything that is bad for me. Hard - but I feel so much better and have found that I can eat whatever I want but not whenever I want. I go off the wagon and then back on for 3-4 days to catch up.
I have gone from 5' 10" 198 w/ 38" waist to a 166 w/33" waist. I went from 25% body fat to 11% body fat.
I religiously weigh myself each and every day at the same time but I have stopped logging everything I eat.
I am still running and started training for a spring marathon.
Basically the shortcut was there are no shortcuts. I sit down and eat as normally as the next guy at dinner but load up on veggies without the salt and butter I used to cover everything with.
In the end it is like mods to an NSX. I did every trick in the book (cut sweets, cut carbs, weigh every day, heavy exercise, cut booze, log everything). I just didn't do them all at once. Every time I hit a plateau I would take it to the next level and break past that barrier with the next thing I knew.
Things I learned?
- man up and step on the scale every day even if you ate a XL pie with a 12 pack. Accountability and measurement are key.
- for at least a month log everything you put in your mouth. Tracking calories and other things you eat will help you learn how little 2000 calories a day are and what makes you feel full without busting the calorie budget.
- most of the diet tricks and games are complete BS. Weight loss/gain is is a simple equation. If you consume 1 more calorie then you expend you will gain weight. It doesn't matter if you eat all your calories at midnight or not.
- You never burn exactly the same number of calories as you burn. So - you either gained weight or lost weight today (and every day).
- I am actually happier when I am slightly hungry then when I am full and studies have proven others are the same way.
- I eat a lot when I am nervous and not when I am really hungry. Stop and ask yourself "am I really hungry?" before you dust off that plate of cookies after you lost a big deal.
- Fruit and veggies have way less calories then anyone realizes. I load up on them almost every single meal. It is God's gift to us that an apple tastes like is has 4x the calories it actually does.
- Olive Oil, butter, fats have way more calories then anyone realizes and don't really add that much to the food. Try a salad with just balsamic and a packet of equal + mrs. dash. Almost no calories and surprisingly good!
- Bread is a killer in large doses. I cut my pita's up into tiny pieces and include a little piece in each bite instead of plowing through a loaf with every meal.
- Maintenance is harder then the loss part. It is SO easy to get back in your bad habits.
- Weight loss moves like the stock market. I was shocked when for no apparent reason my weight would move up and not come down as it should in a straight line. Stay with your plan and over time it will come down.
- Find exercise you like. I really do love to run.
- Find ways to burn calories when you are working! This is a big one for me. I burn an extra 4-500 calories a day on the days I have no calls/meetings.
- Last, allow yourself to cheat. I am on the Ratatouille diet. In that movie the chef asks the food credit "why are you so skinny as a food critic?". He replies "because if I don't like it - I don't swallow". I still have great meals. I still eat incredible helpings of my absolute favorite food and wash them down with glasses of red wine. I just only do it if I love it and special occasions. I don't blow through a bad of chips or bad bar food. I save it for the occasions and the food I love.
Hope this encourages, inspires, and helps some of you out there during this difficult time of the year to be watching your weight!
Plus think of all the money you can save on food and the HP you will gain driving around in your NSX! I just removed over 30 pounds from the car and the car feels by my seat dino to be faster!
:smile:
Here is my own personal update having met, exceeded, and then held my weight loss goals for 3 months. Hope this helps some of you who - like me - will probably struggle to maintain a good weight for their lives...
Rewind to end of July 08. After my 40th my wife through me a surprise birthday party. I saw the pictures and I was upset I had let me self go so far.
Two days later met with my doc and he confirmed my worst fears. I was officially fat along with some other big time concerns.
Not wanting to be fat or die young I made some immediate changes.
First thing I decided to do was track everything I eat, all my exercise, and my goals in my Windows Mobile device running Pocket Diet Tracker. It has a db of thousands of popular dishes, you can chart everything, put in your goals, etc. It calculates and does the rest. Very slick! This was the single most important thing I did. I had to unlearn what was healthy and what wasn't.
Second - I decided to work from home. I have a treadmill and a recumbent stationary bike. I fabricated a desktop out of Aluminum that transfers between the 2 and allows me to workout all day while I work out slowly. I also have a bowflex that I used for my breaks to do a quick set of whatever.
Once the pounds started dropping I began training for the first of 2 marathons, 2 1/2 marathons, and countless 16-20 mile training runs. Nothing shreds pounds more then running IMO. If you are like me and work 16 hours / day it is awesome to completely disconnect from the "grid" and go AWOL and be with nature.
Other changes. Stopped the 3-6 pack / night and the forth meal that came along with it. Replaced beer/wine with green tea.
Many of these changes were very hard for an Italian guy that lives for wine, pasta, cannolis, and pretty much everything that is bad for me. Hard - but I feel so much better and have found that I can eat whatever I want but not whenever I want. I go off the wagon and then back on for 3-4 days to catch up.
I have gone from 5' 10" 198 w/ 38" waist to a 166 w/33" waist. I went from 25% body fat to 11% body fat.
I religiously weigh myself each and every day at the same time but I have stopped logging everything I eat.
I am still running and started training for a spring marathon.
Basically the shortcut was there are no shortcuts. I sit down and eat as normally as the next guy at dinner but load up on veggies without the salt and butter I used to cover everything with.
In the end it is like mods to an NSX. I did every trick in the book (cut sweets, cut carbs, weigh every day, heavy exercise, cut booze, log everything). I just didn't do them all at once. Every time I hit a plateau I would take it to the next level and break past that barrier with the next thing I knew.
Things I learned?
- man up and step on the scale every day even if you ate a XL pie with a 12 pack. Accountability and measurement are key.
- for at least a month log everything you put in your mouth. Tracking calories and other things you eat will help you learn how little 2000 calories a day are and what makes you feel full without busting the calorie budget.
- most of the diet tricks and games are complete BS. Weight loss/gain is is a simple equation. If you consume 1 more calorie then you expend you will gain weight. It doesn't matter if you eat all your calories at midnight or not.
- You never burn exactly the same number of calories as you burn. So - you either gained weight or lost weight today (and every day).
- I am actually happier when I am slightly hungry then when I am full and studies have proven others are the same way.
- I eat a lot when I am nervous and not when I am really hungry. Stop and ask yourself "am I really hungry?" before you dust off that plate of cookies after you lost a big deal.
- Fruit and veggies have way less calories then anyone realizes. I load up on them almost every single meal. It is God's gift to us that an apple tastes like is has 4x the calories it actually does.
- Olive Oil, butter, fats have way more calories then anyone realizes and don't really add that much to the food. Try a salad with just balsamic and a packet of equal + mrs. dash. Almost no calories and surprisingly good!
- Bread is a killer in large doses. I cut my pita's up into tiny pieces and include a little piece in each bite instead of plowing through a loaf with every meal.
- Maintenance is harder then the loss part. It is SO easy to get back in your bad habits.
- Weight loss moves like the stock market. I was shocked when for no apparent reason my weight would move up and not come down as it should in a straight line. Stay with your plan and over time it will come down.
- Find exercise you like. I really do love to run.
- Find ways to burn calories when you are working! This is a big one for me. I burn an extra 4-500 calories a day on the days I have no calls/meetings.
- Last, allow yourself to cheat. I am on the Ratatouille diet. In that movie the chef asks the food credit "why are you so skinny as a food critic?". He replies "because if I don't like it - I don't swallow". I still have great meals. I still eat incredible helpings of my absolute favorite food and wash them down with glasses of red wine. I just only do it if I love it and special occasions. I don't blow through a bad of chips or bad bar food. I save it for the occasions and the food I love.
Hope this encourages, inspires, and helps some of you out there during this difficult time of the year to be watching your weight!
Plus think of all the money you can save on food and the HP you will gain driving around in your NSX! I just removed over 30 pounds from the car and the car feels by my seat dino to be faster!
:smile:
