Taking control my my weight again...

[purk]

I'm about 5'10" and 220 lbs and plan to drop 40 lbs by the end of the year for the wedding. I have a very broad shoulder for a guy my size so I'm look big and strong more than fat.

I used to be 150 lbs b/f moving over here 10 years ago. Anyway about a year ago, I balloned to 268 lbs (thanks to a desk job, and buffets) so I decided to do something about it. I started swimming 45 minutes a day about 5 days a week. I also controlled my eating habbit and eliminated all of my snacks and was able to loose nearly 60 lbs at the end of last year.

Anyway, I've gained some weight back after being lazy and eating bigger portions, so I need to slim down again. Hopefully, I will be able to shed another 40 lbs and be under 200 lbs once more!

P.S. The last time when I was under 200 lbs was 9 years ago.

 

[Wmcmanus]

I just hunted down my favorite all time book about weight control. It's called, "A Thin Book by a Formerly Fat Psychiatrist". Here's the link at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...Fencoding=UTF8

I read this book years ago when I was in the midst of my big weight loss. It's all about how you think of yourself and your body, how to think about food and the purposes it serves (good and bad) in your life.

I remember the analogy he made that the amount of weight you have to lose, especially for those who are way overweight (say 100 pounds) is like a "tumor" that needs to be removed carefully, and not all at once. As when someone is diagnosed with cancer and they can't simply go in a "get it all out" but have to take a bit at a time and give the body and mind a chance to adjust to the changes that are going on.

Same with weight loss. Break the 100 pounds down into 5 batches of 20 pounds each. Work hard and smart to lose the first 20 pounds, and then take a "dieting vacation" for a while where you get used to your new weight, buy yourself some new clothes, get more comfortable with how you're looking and feeling. Stop thinking of yourself as being "so fat" because you aren't anymore (or at least you're now 20 pounds closer to your goal weight than you were a couple of months earlier).

During these "dieting vacations" you try to maintain your weight, but you allow yourself more "treats" than you would during the concentrated weight loss phases. Then when you're ready for another push, you take a couple of months to tackle the next 20 pounds. If the momentum takes you further, then push for 30 pounds before your next "vacation". If you're struggling, then take another break after you're lost just 10 more pounds.

The idea is to give yourself time to enjoy your accomplishments along the way instead of treating the entire 100 pounds as one long marathon. This really helped me when I was going through the process the last time because it eliminated the notion of fixed "target dates" and the thought that by not reaching my weight goals on time that I had "failed" in a significant way. It was all about having the right perspective and learning to rethink food issues. As I recall there was not much at all in this book about exercise.

It really is a thin book and doesn't take much time to read. I lost (or gave away, not sure which) my original copy years ago, but just ordered another one tonight. Actually, I did this about a year ago but the rascal who "sold" it to me took my money and never sent the book!

Lots of other good stuff in there including a section on "guilt free foods" (in other words, foods that you can eat as much of as you want, whenever you want, even if you get stuffed on them, you still have nothing to worry about). We're talking pickles, carrots, and the like. Another section was devoted to foods that you should "never" eat. Remember, this is a book written by a psychiatrist, so he had his reasons. Things that are mostly saturated fat, high on creams, and so forth. Essentially, he viewed a very restricted list of foods as "always bad"; they are momentum killers, they are "not worth it" and they always make you feel bad about yourself.

Aynway, it's a nice read.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by purk P.S. The last time when I was under 200 lbs was 9 years ago.

Me too! It's a deal then. We'll both get there by the end of this year.

Swimming is great exercise. I've often thought about putting a pool in my backyard, and if ever I do so, it would be a bit unconventional. Not a "family" pool, but a lap pool. Something like one lane of an Olympic pool, and it would be purely for exercise. Too many people I know have put in pools and then never use them.

 

[Tyson]

One thing I've experienced firsthand is that muscle=metabolism. If you gain muscle from exercise, then you burn more calories everyday. If you lose muscle, then you burn less calories every day. Pretty simple.

But here's where I see people get into trouble. Often people are active when they are young, have a good amount of lean mass, and not too much bodyfat. Time goes by, they stop playing sports and exercise. The get a desk job. They lose muscle but keep eating at the same levels as when they were active. So they get fat. Then they decide to diet, and maybe exercise, usually jogging or walking, or other types of aerobics, but not much resistance training. Certainly not enough resistance training to put on much muscle mass.

Since aerobics does little to nothing to stimulate muscle growth or even muscle maintenance, when these people diet, the body goes into "starvation mode" and starts storing calories as fat like crazy. But they do (in fact) lose weight. How? Easy, their bodies are canibalizing their muscle mass to live on, causing their metabolisms to slow down even more. And even though the lose weight, they don't look better or feel better, because of the loss of body mass.

With a slower metabolism, they are no longer able to lose weight on their diet. At this point the can make one of 2 choices, either give up and start eating at there "normal" non-diet levels (in which case they put on large amounts of weight very quickly, faster than if they'd never dieted), or they can choose to keep reducing their caloric intake even further to try to keep losing weight. And they will keep losing weight, buy losing ever-more muscle. Eventually at the end of that road they are skinny, but soft and unshapely (and very, very hungry). And their metabolism sucks because they have almost no muscle.

Now, I'm not saying you have to get huge and ripped like a freaky bodybuilder, but lean muscle is pretty much integral to a high metabolism and a healthy/fit look and feel for your body. Aerobics do have their place, in fact they are vital for good cardiovascular fitness, but nothing can really substitute for hitting the weights hard once or twice a week, but never more than that, for the simple fact that it's way to hard on your body and you need that time away from the gym to recover from the work. Low intensity aerobics is fine to do a few times a week, but high intensity lifting needs to be strictly delineated to once or twice (at the most) a week.

And remember, that a pound of fat is 3500 calories, so if you want to lose a pound of fat in a week, you have to have a negative calorie balance of 3500 per week, or 500 below maintenance a day. Assuming you keep your metabolism healthy with the weights, that means your caloric intake (as a male) is around 2200 most likely. So keeping your calories to 1700 will let you lose a pound of fat a week, every week, for as long as you want. I would not advise going below 1500-1700 calories a day, as below that its just not enough to give you proper nutrition. If you want to lose at a faster rate, do some low intensity aerobics to burn another 200-300 calories.

Hmm, I seem to have gotten a bit carried away, sorry for the long-windedness.........

 

[Asr]

Some more things I want to add based on the other posts:

Cut out soft drinks. All of them, all the time. You can't drink both soft drinks and water and expect to lose weight, you need to just stop drinking soft drinks. (You didn't say in the original psot if you drink soft drinks, I'm just assuming here.) They're full of empty calories and cause people to balloon.

Meat is a HUGE factor to overall health. For your own health, please do not eat pork. Pork meat contains harmful bacteria from the original animal that will transfer to the human body, because pigs will eat ANYTHING. Over the course of a lifetime, consumption of pork alone can kill the human body.

If you eat beef/steak, make sure it's well-done. Don't eat it raw or medium.

If you eat chicken, grill it. Fried chicken is full of fatty oils.

Add fish to your diet, be it salmon, trout, or something similar (if you like fish). Look for fish with fins and scales (so sharks don't count, heh).

Seafood...this is probably going to be a can of worms. Personally, I don't eat seafood at all for health reasons, with the fish exception. You may not want to make the same sacrifice. Lobsters, crabs, oysters/clams, octopus, and more might all be culturally accepted as part of the diverse cuisine available in this country, but they're extremely bad for the human body because of what those animals ingest while living.

Make sure your bread is whole wheat. Check for at least 3g of fiber per serving (any less than that is not 100% whole wheat) for pre-packaged bread, or buy it freshly made.

Try not to eat out at restaurants, specifically ones that offer all-American cuisine, Italian, or Mexican. Asian and European ones (aside from the Italian) tend to be much more healthier.

Don't eat dessert-style stuff either, like cakes, pies, ice cream, etc. If you have a sweet tooth, it can be especially hard, but you can do it! A good dessert-substitute is a fruit smoothie, try it out!

Try soymilk or ricemilk as a milk substitute. 2% milk is one of the biggest lies in marketing. It's just bad for the human body.

At this point you're probably wondering what I do eat.

I make almost all my food on my own (the most frequently I go out is once a week). I eat pasta, making the sauce myself from fresh tomatoes and vegetables when I have time (using the higher-quality organic bottled ones when I don't), fish, sauteed vegetables, rice, Indian-style stuff, Mexican-style tacos w/o cheese, etc. I don't stock microwave dinners, ice cream, or any desserts, or any junk food, or instant Ramen. The most unhealthy I get at breakfast is one bowl of lower-carb cereal with soymilk when I don't have enough time for anything else.

So this was kinda long, but I hope it offers a glimpse into the kind of life I lead.

Obviously you don't have to go to the lengths that I have, just do what you can, any improvements will change your health for the better, and make you lose weight faster (with exercise of course).

 

[purk]

Wayne,

I will try to get there. I made that my goal for this year, so hopefully I will be able to achieve it.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyson Hmm, I seem to have gotten a bit carried away, sorry for the long-windedness.........

Not at all. I'm not quoting anything in particular because it was all good. You make your point quite well and this is something that is easily overlooked by those dieters who are focusing too much on the scale itself rather than thinking of their body and general health from a holistic point of view. As you say, they think they are getting "results" but they're only fooling themselves with the weight loss, and particularly when it's a starvation type of low calorie diet with little, if any, weight training. So true.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by purk Wayne, I will try to get there. I made that my goal for this year, so hopefully I will be able to achieve it.

Use this space to keep us posted. It would indeed be rather strange if a bunch of annonymous "internet buddies" were able to provide the inspiration and motivation that you need, but stranger things have happened. If nothing else, it might help if you checked in every now and then. At least it will keep you thinking about your goals.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Man, I've got to respond to some of this! It's simply fantastic reading.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asr Some more things I want to add based on the other posts: Cut out soft drinks. All of them, all the time. You can't drink both soft drinks and water and expect to lose weight, you need to just stop drinking soft drinks. (You didn't say in the original psot if you drink soft drinks, I'm just assuming here.) They're full of empty calories and cause people to balloon.

I'm a Diet Coke freak and have been for 25 years. I drink at least one 2 liter bottle every day. I could, and should, drink water instead. I know. I'll try. But still, it can't be as bad as the regular stuff, can it? I mean it is calorie free. Just high in sodium and a bunch of other junk.

Quote:

Meat is a HUGE factor to overall health. For your own health, please do not eat pork... If you eat beef/steak, make sure it's well-done. Don't eat it raw or medium. If you eat chicken, grill it. Fried chicken is full of fatty oils. Add fish to your diet, be it salmon, trout, or something similar (if you like fish). Look for fish with fins and scales (so sharks don't count, heh).

Don't eat much meat in general, but when I do it's either chicken or beef (meduim well). Almost never pork. Not a whole lot of fish or seafood either although I do like most fish, as long as it's not too "fishy" tasting if you know what I mean.

I'd like to kick up my chicken and turkey consumption considerably and will most defintely do so as I gradually get back into weight training.

Quote:

Make sure your bread is whole wheat. Check for at least 3g of fiber per serving (any less than that is not 100% whole wheat) for pre-packaged bread, or buy it freshly made.

I tend to eat at Subway a lot, but stay away from the other fast food places these days. Got to switch over to whole wheat on my visits there (I'm a sucker for their cheese bread).

Quote:

Try not to eat out at restaurants, specifically ones that offer all-American cuisine, Italian, or Mexican. Asian and European ones (aside from the Italian) tend to be much more healthier.

That all depends on my dating life, which is pretty dry at the moment. One thing I do find is that when I eat out at nice restaurants, at least the portions are controlled.

Quote:

Don't eat dessert-style stuff either, like cakes, pies, ice cream, etc. If you have a sweet tooth, it can be especially hard, but you can do it!

Major weakness in my chemical make up! This is where I always have the hardest time retraining my thinking as I start to exercise and eat well again.

Quote:

Try soymilk or ricemilk as a milk substitute. 2% milk is one of the biggest lies in marketing. It's just bad for the human body.

I use skim milk with my workout shakes (Muscle Milk powder).

Quote:

So this was kinda long, but I hope it offers a glimpse into the kind of life I lead.

Yes, indeed it does! And a very healthy lifestyle at that. Thanks.

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Homeless This coming from a guy named CookeFactory...lol

Funny thing, my wife works for Siegal, the "Cookie Diet", which is all about portion control.

Keep at it, Wayne! I hope to meet more and less of you at the next meet.

 

[gaijin]

Check out books by Mackie Shilstone.

Above and beyond "working out" it is a good idea to get involved in a regular sport.

 

[braillediver]

Congratulations!!

I’m getting in shape too after way to long on the skids. In the last year I’ve gone from not fitting into 42-inch pants to a 36-inch waist.


So when’s the First Annual Cayman Islands Headphone and Health Meet? I treasure hunt so set me up with a Spanish Galleon and we can collect gold doubloons.

If it’s in 2-3 years I should have an Aristeaus by then so I could bring my HE90’s too?


Mitch

 

[EyeAmEye]

I'e violated every "rule" of diet, exercise and nutrition, and since October 2004, I've gone from 287 to 200. All I needed was an exercise bike. I do 1-2 hours a day, 6 days a week and enjoy every type of "junk" food you can imagine, and enough Coke and Pepsi to start a factory. That probably makes me someone whose advice shouldn't be headed, but health is unique to every individual, and should be catered with this in mind. Alot of diets and exercises work on a mass scale, but can work against certain individuals. Finding the best routine and diet for you, regardless of the perceived rules is the key.

Keep this one in mind, any diet that eliminates certain types of foods is bull.

 

[1911]

when the man boobies start to sprout that is a serious hint to lose weight...how bout a before pic now..and then post a afer pic every six months?

 

[elrod-tom]

Wow…you guys are like my brothers from other mothers!!

I’ve recently been on a program to get myself back into good shape, and it’s finally coming around to a routine. I think that’s the key, as one gets into an opposite sort of routine on the way to becoming a FF in the first place.

My story is a lot like many I’ve already heard here: I was super active as a younger man, training constantly as a competitive ski racer. In the winter, I skied 5-6 hours every day, and in the summer, I worked out pretty much non-stop with my buddies. It’s easy to develop some very bad eating habits when you’re that active…in some respects, it comes out of necessity.

In college, I put on a few pounds, but was still very active. After graduating, I took a sales job that landed me behind a wheel or desk pretty much all day long…oh, and eating out a lot too. As one might expect, the pounds started to pile on. I went from 165 lbs on a 6’ medium to large frame to 220 lbs in just under 3 years, even though I was still running 25-30 miles a week at 7-8 minutes per mile. Some of that I’m sure was muscle, but who’s kidding who here.

Then, one night, I was running down stairs to grab the phone (my wife was asleep) in my dress socks, and it happened: a serious injury!! I rolled over and across my right ankle, and it made a sound like a stick breaking. My ankle swelled up to softball size within 2-3 minutes, and only got worse from there. The diagnosis: torn syndesmotic ligament…or what’s also known more commonly as a severe high ankle sprain. Well, that’s what it appeared to be in the X-Ray. The only way to really know is to either open you up or do an MRI (and back then, they didn’t do MRI’s on pretty much anyone except pro athletes). So they put me into a leg cast for 12 weeks, a short cast for 6 more, and when that didn’t work, they decided to put me under the knife and reconstruct the ankle. Three weeks later, they changed their mind about that, and sent me to PT for 9 weeks.

Adding insult to injury, about a month after getting out of PT, I slipped on the stairs again. This time I figured I’d catch myself on the steps and not dig in with my still very tender ankle…and broke my tail bone!!

The end result of this prolonged period of inactivity and grumpiness was that my weight shot up to 285 lbs…and as we all know, it goes on much easier than it comes off.

I tried to work my way back into shape, but the ankle would only permit so much in the way of vigorous activity. I was also in grad school, and would soon go back to the work force and another desk job with long hours. I decided that I also needed to get some help from a physician, and find a way to make exercising easier. I bought a treadmill, enrolled in one of these physician supervised weight loss plans where you eat only limited quantities of real food, and found my way down to 215 lbs again.

I managed to keep the weight off for about 3 years through sensible eating and regular exercise. Then I got a job that keeps me commuting for 2-3 hours every day…which pretty much nuked my exercise time. At that point, it was either spend my precious off-time exercising or with my kids…and I wasn’t going to give that up.

It took about 2 ½ years for me to get back to 285 lbs. Even at that weight, however, I was still able to do a lot of stuff that more slender folks couldn’t do. I’ve often made the joke that I’m in pretty good shape for a fat guy. However, the ankle was not really up to a lot of stuff that I wanted to do…I couldn’t run on it for more than about 5 minutes without it starting to bark at me. Then the kids started getting more active…my 4 year old wants me to play soccer with him!! Well, you can imagine THAT will take the wind out of someone with 100 lbs of excess weight and a bum ankle. I also hurt my knee after taking an awkward fall, which made climbing the stairs painful. So I recently decided that I needed to change my routine.

For me, the key is time management and meal management.

When I’m busy, I don’t find time to exercise, and it’s too damn easy to eat out. I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to eat out daily (as had become my habit), and started packing a lunch every day. Besides limiting my lunches to lower calorie stuff, it’s also saving me a ton of money!! I decided that I also needed to be more careful about how long I go between meals. I found that by the time I got home in the evening, I would pretty much eat the entire contents of the refrigerator. By taking smaller portions over the course of the day, I find that I don’t do that nearly so much any more.

I’m also forcing myself to get out of the house early enough in the AM to exercise at work (we have a nice gym with elliptical machines, treadmills, stair-masters, roughly 1,000 lbs of Olympic free weights, and a rack of dumbbells up to 100 lbs). I’m doing mostly cardio in the AM, and hitting it over lunch for weight-lifting. I also bought a Total Gym (don’t laugh…this thing is great for doing exercises that strengthen load-bearing joints like knees and ankles) to use at home in the evening and on weekends. My daughter is helping me out by having me join her in exercises that she does for gymnastics to strengthen her ankles and knees. Oh…and I rigged up my treadmill so that I could surf the net while I was exercising.

The net result after 45 days: so far I’ve not dropped much weight…but my clothes are fitting better than they were. My overall fitness level has improved a great deal. I can lift fairly heavy weight and not feel like I don’t want to get out of bed the next day. I can do 60+ minutes on the treadmill at 3.2 mph…at a 15 degree incline. I even ran (well, jogged) on the treadmill for 2 ½ miles the other day. I’m doing between 3 ½ and 4 ½ miles of cardio a day, along with short bursts of weightlifting throughout the day, and working with my daughter on my bad ankle. My knee is less painful, my ankle appears to be getting more stable, and I feel so much better…and it’s taking precious little time away from my kids. My wife has been a great help with this, BTW…for the first time I feel like she’s on board with this effort. It puts more demands on her time, but the trade-off is that I’m around to kill spiders and open jars for that much longer.

I’m hopeful that I’ve finally stumbled onto a routine that will work for me…I’ll let y’all know.