And the Demons Come Knocking... Loss to date, 27.5Lbs

When part of a daily routine, eating a healthy, balanced diet seems to be fairly easy to stick with. Once you learn the "ropes" and implement the plan, sticking to the plan is not too difficult...

But once you get pulled out of your routine and are forced to deal with extra challenges on a daily basis, the Demons don't wast any time gathering their forces and knocking on your door.

This week my wife Stephanie is in Seattle taking care of Family business and I am now a stay at home Dad with my two boys, 7 and 3. While I enjoy this greatly, my daily routine has gone out the window! This was not a good time to try a week without my food diary! This food log I have found, is now more important than ever. I have not been logging the last 3 days.... but now realize that it is the only way to be SURE that what I am doing will be effective. 

When you log EVERYTHING that you eat, there is NO QUESTION at the end of the day whether you have been "successful"... or not. It keeps one accountable and "honest" in a way that is actually comforting and takes all the "guess work" out of what you are trying to accomplish. Without the food log it is a journey into the dark. You really never know until you get on that scale... and then it is too late. The damage is done and you take a hit in your progress and your motivation to keep going. 

So now realize the food log is crucial, it has been the one thing that has kept me honest and moving forward. Well... that, and this Blog....  A learning experience that will with time, help teach me once and for all how to "Eat to live, not Live to eat". 

So.... it is back to the food log for me.

Making great progress.... Loss to date 22.5 Lbs

Quick rundown of my progress to date.
Since Nov 6th I am down to 347 lbs, A total loss of 22.5 lbs! This is about 1 lb a day!
At 1 lb a day, I know the weight is coming off fast right now and I believe it is because I have so much to loose. I am not expecting it to continue at this pace but I will take every pound I can while it lasts. I am however hoping to be able to maintain an average loss of 15-20 lbs per month. We will see what happens. The most important thing to me is that this is a completely sustainable eating pattern so far and I am really enjoying the education that is coming along for the ride! The key is making this eating pattern my lifetime habit and not have to think about it.

Dr. Lawrence has told me that if I take ONLY ONE THING from him, it should be PORTION CONTROL.
Learning what a proper portion size is and how many calories it has is CRUCIAL. This, combined with snacks in between my 3 main meals a day is critical to keeping my body on a normal, constant state of metabolism throughout the day, and I believe it to be key to my success so far. I am honestly NOT hungry all the time and when I do get hungry... I eat.
At first I had to force my self to eat six times a day when my body was not feeling hungry.... The strange thing is, now my body wants that food every few hrs and I have found that I am settling into this cycle and my snack or meal alarm on my iPhone usually goes off while I am eating. But it is still good to have an alarm as I have also found that when I am busy I can miss the "hunger signs" and they go away quickly, then it is easy to forget. I have found twice now, when I miss or skip snacks my daily calorie intake will jump by at least 200-300 calories. :~\

For me, basically it comes down to this in a nut shell. Lean proteins (Chicken, fish, and turkey @ 3-4 oz per serving), fresh fruits and veggies and whole grains. Keep it all balanced at around 40% carbs, 30% Protien and 30% Fat and keep the calories at around 1400-1600. (this is extremely easy to track with the Calorie King software - www.calorieking.com) and NO I do not get anything for putting this link on my blog, just a great tool that I found through the help of my Doctor. My calories have been typically below 1400 for the most part. I have found that it takes a lot of these foods to reach these calorie goals and my counts have naturally fallen to between 1100 and 1400. The doc told me to not worry about these lower calorie numbers as long as I am satisfied and the weight keeps coming off. IF the weight STOPS coming off then my body has gone into "Hypo-Metabolism" and then it is time to add some calories but until then, don't worry about it as long as I am not feeling hungry.

One other side effect that I have noticed... All of my life I have lived with with Depression. It comes and goes and puts me in a not so good place for a few days every few weeks. I have not had a serious bout of Depression since I started eating like this. A few minor lows here and there but only for a few hours at a time and NOT a few DAYS..... Coincidence?....

                                             ...We shall see.

Thanksgiving recap....

Thanksgiving was truly a Joy. I ate normally the first half of the day and because of this I was able to come in near my calorie goal (600 calories) for dinner! All while being completely satisfied. I even included a glass of wine, my first since I started my journey.

I had 5 oz of roasted Turkey (223 cal)
1 cup sugar free Cranberry sauce (I made it my self with Truvia brand sweetner) (51cal)
2 cups Salad with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers and 1/2 oz Feta Cheese (86 cal)
4 oz of baked Butternut Squash (45cal)
3 Pickled asparigus spears (10 cal)
5 oz glass of Chardonnay (120 cal)
10 oz fresh strawbwerries (90 cal)
2 Tbsp Cool Whip Free (30 cal) and Truvia Sweetner. (0 cal)
655 calories - Outstanding!.... considering that this was spread out over both my dinner AND my evening snack.

Needless to say it was a guilt free Thanksgiving and that is what I am most thankfull for.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving... Loss to date 21.5 lbs

I am off to a great start! At my follow-up visit with Dr Lawrence on Tuesday the 18th (12 days after starting) I was down to 357 lbs, a loss of 12.5 lbs! Now I am a week beyond that and the scale at home reads 348 lbs... a loss of yet another 9 lbs for a total of 21.5 lbs since Nov 6th. This is quite an encouraging start. One that I just cannot see sabotaging by one day of overstuffed agony.

In a lot of ways I want to just not count tomorrow and just enjoy the day with Family. Eat thousands of calories and fall asleep peacefully on the couch only to wake up an our later for pie and turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce. But really, the day is about Family and THANKFULLNESS and while the food is a large part of the day, it does not need to be the FOCUS. The day can be fun all while eating sensibly. Obviously mashed potatoes and stuffing and gravy are all out. I could easily surpass my entire daily allowance of calories even with the smallest of portions. But what I am learning is that finding those hidden gems of food can be quite exciting. Foods I had never before even considered that I actually LOVE.

For instance... Do you know how many calories are in an oz (2-3) of strawberries? ... 9! Which means a 10 ounces of whole fresh strawberries (fills your average soup bowl) is only 90 calories! Sprinkled with a packet of Truvia brand sugar substitute and I would put this against a bowl of my favorite ice cream or holiday pie ANY DAY.

So this year am going to stick with my life plan and eat normally, all while monitoring everything that goes in my mouth and when all is said and done, I am going to keep my holiday meal to around 600 calories (which is still almost double what my typical meal plan is currently) Stephanie, my wife is even going to try to make sugar free cranberry sauce for us to enjoy! This will make it a snap!

I am making the salad so there is lots of fresh veggies available. Pickled asparagus is a new favorite and only a few calories per spear.

I will make it about the family gathering and NOT about the food, and with that I will be successful and not feel like I am losing out. In fact I will just keep losing, period.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Life Plan.... Loss to date 8 lbs

Dr. Lawrence and I sat for over 2 hrs last week and discussed food choices, eating habits, exercise, portion size, everything one would expect to talk about when talking about weight loss. And the biggest thing that I came out of that meeting with... well, surprised me.

A Life Plan!

All the times in my life that I have tried and failed to get control over my weight, I never once had a SOLID, SUSTAINABLE plan. It was always just a stab in the dark really. Attempts that had really no basis in reality for long term success. For one reason or another there was always an unsustainable behavior pattern involved, whether it was running 7 miles a day in High School, banning FAT completely in my 20s, Banning CARBS completely in my 30s, or going to the gym religiously, 7 days a week at 40. All of these things came with short term success. 40 lbs here 60 lbs there, even 80 lbs lost at one time, but NONE of them taught me HOW TO EAT properly so once I stopped being on a "diet" I returned to my old eating habits and rapidly gained all the weight back, and then some. They were short term solutions to what I realize now is a LIFE LONG goal, plain and simple. And educating myself looks to be the long term solution. Knowledge is power and the more I know and understand about my body's needs and the food I put into it, the better off I will be.

I need to strike a realistic balance and create a path that can become a long term, sustainable journey.... A LIFE PLAN.

So.... What is the plan? It's different for everyone. What works for one person is torture for another. What is right for one body is wrong for another. Over the next few months we will be working to hone the plan especially for me. I am starting with changing my daily eating habits. From one or two HUGE meals late in the day to eating breakfast, a mid morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack, Dinner and finally an evening snack. All keeping my total calories to between 1200 and 1400 a day. The plan was to be 1800 but honestly, now that I have been doing this this for a week, my body just is not that hungry and the cravings are NOT there. I actually find myself, at the end of the day, usually below my target calorie intake and feeling quite satisfied. We will see Tuesday. My second appointment and my second weigh-in. I may be told to raise my calories.... That is a strange thought.

Lean proteins, fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains. You would be surprised to know just how much of these foods it takes to eat 1400 calories in a day. And Dr Lawrence has directed me to a wonderful software that helps me not only keep track of what I eat, but enables me to find out ahead of time just how much of something I can eat. www.calorieking.com You really want to look at something scary, look up your favorite restaurant and see how many calories your favorite dish has.

With this software, I am in control because I have the knowledge, and knowledge is.... say it with me.... POWER!

Old habits... Staring weight 369.5 Lbs

We go through life on auto pilot. At least that is what my path has been. I have gotten so used to doing things the same way every day that I don't even realize I'm doing them. This I have learned is going to be one of my greatest challenges..... changing old HABITS. To change these I have to recognize the destructive patterns and re-learn, not just how to eat, but how to live.

It is going to involve changing how I interact with my Family, how I work, how I think and every decision I make for quite a while.... until these new actions and thoughts actually become Habits, a lifestyle. Along with support from my family, I believe positive thought is going to be crucial. I have found a great site that I go to almost daily. www.greatday.com Some really great stuff to give me perspective each morning. Thanks Mr. Marston!

For the record... My starting weight is 369 lbs. My goal is to lose 165 lbs. which will put me right at the weight I was when I met my wife almost 19 years ago... 204 lbs

As a film maker I could not let this journey go un-documented. It is an epic project and one that I hope will inspire others change their lives as well. The cameras will be rolling and I will post short clips here and there along the way as I have time to edit them. 

Quote of the day:

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams... Live the life you have imagined."

- Henry David Thoreau

It Starts Today....

Big day today... It is the day it all starts... I have my first official doctors visit with the man that is going to help guide me in my quest to lose 165 lbs... Man that is hard to say... or type as it were... and all with the cameras rolling. It will change my life, of this I am sure. I am also sure that it will be the longest, toughest journey of my 42 years but one that will give me back my life one pound at a time.

I am scared of what the Doctor will say today, I am sure it will be a rude awakening. It is amazing how it can sneak up on you over the years and what the mind can tell you to keep you in denial. Seeing myself like this on the "before" footage that we have already shot is deeply disturbing. At the same time I plan to use it as motivation for my journey.

More to come once I see my Doctor today and we formulate the plan.

Wish me strength.