FatBloggers.net A little push to lose the tush.

Would you please join me in welcoming Michael to the FatBlogger family.

Michael and I go back to 1990. He is the first friend I made after I became a Christian at the age of 21. We were involved in Youth Staff together at Kings Circle AG in Corvallis, OR before going to Northwest College (now University) together to enter into the world of ministry. That choice didn’t work out too well for either of us. He was also the Best Man at my wedding. We’ve been there for each other through alot of ups and downs. His entire family holds a special place in my heart, and life.

Mike and I were talking the other day and he mentioned that he is a regular reader of this blog that, like many others, gains inspiration from our posts. I invited him to join, but he told me that he wasn’t ready to ‘go public’ with his weightloss journey (so, I guess this is a kind of ‘outing’). I told him that I would register him as a FatBlogger, and when he was ready, he would be able to post without asking again.

I am looking forward to having Mike aboard, he’s funny and genuine.

I continue to rack up whole numbers. None of them decimal points for me so far. Drum roll please, Anton…

Starting weight: 260

Today’s weight: 254

Pounds lost this week: 3

Total pounds lost: 6

Goal Weight: 245

Pounds to go: 9

Woo hoo!

Technorati tags: dieting, weight loss, fatblogging, weigh-in

Do… or do not… There is no try  –Master Yoda

I have switched to Tuesday night weigh-ins, so it has been a short week and a major shift from weighing in the mornings to the evenings.

It could have been much, much worse.

Anton… a drum roll please…

Starting Weight (Dec. 22, 2006): 392 lbs.
Starting BMI: 51.7
Weight Today (Jan. 15, 2008): 315.6 lbs.
Current BMI: 41.6

Weight Change This Week: +0.2 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: -76.4 lbs.
NEXT GOAL: Halfway to GOAL! (4.6 lbs. to go)

This post is cross-published on Rejecting Your Reality…

I finally feel like I’m getting my mind going in the right direction. In reference to the quote from last week, the Vice President of Finance told me that the quote (which I had also written up on my marker board in my cubicle at work) reminded him of another common quote from the President of our division, “It takes both thrust and vector”. To get to your goal requires both motivation and proper steering. I think I’ve got the right vector and the thrust is improving.

Naturally, you can probably guess that my weigh-in concluded with a positive result. I had lost more than I anticipated. In the last week, I ate even more fruit and veggies than I had the previous few weeks combined. With a couple of pieces of fruit, celery and carrot sticks and some other assorted veggies and salads, I got real results.

We celebrated by going to Boston Market where I proceeded to order the whole (not half) Rotisserie Chicken Carver Sandwich and the large Market Chopped salad. Before you start telling me that it doesn’t sound like the right direction, it does when you consider the following: I did not get any fountain drink and only had water, I consumed half of the sandwich and the salad. I did not consume the bleu cheese and I did not pour the dressing on the salad (I dipped my fork in the dressing and speared said veggies). I left the restaurant carrying the half sandwich and the half salad (and half dressing) to be consumed at lunch tomorrow.

In a related note, I went forward with what I had read in an article I also blogged about on here. I completed step one, which was to “commit your resolution to writing” or, in my case, a short term goal to reach on my way to long-term success.

As shown in the picture above, I’ve decided on the phrase “Make 50 a Reality By Summer”. To me, this is to be at a goal of 50 pounds lost before June. At one pound a week, this is completely do-able. With my loss today, I’m already a few weeks ahead of the game, but I have to keep those reminders up. Now I’ve got to work on the second step which is to visualize your successful results (in Weight-Watchers, this is known as “Winning Outcomes”).

The whole process actually involves several different methods taught by Weight-Watchers which can obviously be applied to any goal, not just weight loss. Of course, I will focus on this use because this is the most critical to my health and future. Hrm.. already sounds like I’ve got a start on step 2.

Starting weight: 319.0 lb
Previous weight: 287.8 lb
Current weight: 284.2 lb
Current loss/gain: -3.6 lb
Total loss/gain: -34.8 lb
Distance to 50: 15.2 lb
Distance to WW Goal: 34.2 lb

Cross-posted to WebCudgel.com

Loss This  Week - +.2 lbs.

Total Loss - 6.2 lbs.

It appears that I’ve almost got the bleeding stopped, however, there is a positive this day.  My attitude and mood are as good as they’ve been in weeks.

 Here are some potential reasons for my mood, in no particular order:

1.  My 5th grade students are on a field trip this morning, so I have no lessons until noon.  3 1/2 hours to myself (and progress reports).

2.  Great weekend of worship @ The Orchard.

3.  I’ve taken my “happy pills” everyday for the last 10 days, without interruption.

Whatever it is, I’ll do my best to hang onto it.

When I posted here about my December Doldrums last month I didn’t know the half of it - they would continue for another 3 weeks or so.  I had a tough 6 weeks but I hung in there pretty well.  This week with a 4 pound loss I can finally report a 30+ pound loss since the beginning of my Journey From Fat to Fit back in August.  I got my first unibased compliment, I’ve booked now a 31 pound loss and overall I’m feeling great.  It’s a great start to 2008!

I wish I could share with you the great secret for busting through the plateau I was on but I really can’t.  I didn’t do much differently this week that I’ve done other weeks, and in particular I barely exercised, which is not something I want to get into the habit of.  Rather I think the real key was simply to fight through the thoughts of failure and giving up while on the plateau and just have that patience for when something triggers and your body decides it’s ready to give up a little weight.

For those of you who have recommitted to your own 2008 weight loss journey - good luck, and don’t forget to share your stories.

In one way or another all of us have posted our goals for 2008, and my mantra has been to make it work, you gotta have a plan.

1. Pick your battles. 1 or 2 attainable goals are better than several impossible resolutions. Go for quality, not quantity. When you look back at the past year, what would you have done differently? Regret going back for 2nds at every social function? Make a resolution to limit yourself to one serving of your favorites.
2. Keep your goal ‘top of mind’. Despite the computer revolution, wall calendars aren’t going away anytime soon. Put yours to good use. Every month, write your goal below the picture. As each month passes, mark your milestones on the way to reaching your goal. You’ll not only keep your goal top of mind, but also reaffirm it every month.
3. Be prepared. A goal without a plan is guaranteed to fail. How will you go about losing those extra pounds you gained over the holidays? Exercise? Diet? Both? Will you join a gym or buy a treadmill? Cook at home more? Enroll in a weight loss program like Weight Watchers? Write down the details to make your goal real. Now it’s just time to get started!
4. Mark your progress. You’ve set your goal and created a plan. Along with marking your milestones on the calendar, record your feelings in a journal or… share your experiences with others through FatBloggers! I am always interested in adding new authors to our ranks. 100% of the active FatBloggers will agree; they owe a part of thier success to to this blog.

We’re halfway through January, but this is really the first weekend I’ve had a chance to sit down and do any reflecting about the previous year and give some thought to this new one.  Weight loss highlighted 2007 for me, and although I’m returning to a dieting mode right now, I’d like to focus more on health and well-being this year.  Losing weight was just the start.  Some health dragons I would like to keep at bay include:

• Enjoying eating without overindulging.  Just finding that balance seems to be so difficult for me.
• Regular exercise.  I hate going to a gym, and would rather do something outside.  Makes it really difficult for me this time of the year.  I’m definitely looking forward to better weather when I can get on my bike again.
• Maintaining positive outlook.  The events of the last two years or so have taken it’s toll on my own emotional well-being, but I believe I’ve been able to get a handle on that.  Being happier has done wonders for my motivation to get and stay healthy. In fact, it’s proving to be the key factor in my own physical health. 

For so many reasons, I’m looking forward to a great 2008. 

What kind of health goals do you have for this upcoming year?

There are many challenges to losing weight, but I have some unique obstacles on my road to success that make this much harder than for others.  Most of these obstacles deal with what I cannot or choose not to eat or drink.  I’m not the only one faced with these issues, because the need to eat healthy crosses all sorts of ideological borders.

First of all, based on my religious beliefs, I will not consume the following foods:

• Any pork product (ham, lard, bacon, prosciutto, and other products containing pork by-products which can include most cheeses).  This means, for replacements, I have turkey bacon/ham, sausage from chicken/turkey/beef, cheeses made from vegetarian products, etc.  I have to usually avoid many Italian sauces, pizzas, etc.

• Any shellfish or bottom-dwelling sea creatures (thus, no shrimp, crab, lobster, catfish, shark, etc.).  It’s funny how many low-fat recipes contain these sources.  It also continues to surprise me what other products contain these (some flavors of ramen noodle packages, certain sauces, etc.).  This severely limits what I can eat at an Asian restaurant.

By choice (not religious belief), I avoid artificial sweeteners and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  Both of these make their way into so many things these days that it is almost impossible not to consume them.  If it says reduced sugar, it most likely has sucralose or some other chemical.   I recently found sucralose in a light version of mayonnaise (though the regular one contained no sweeteners). HFCS can be found in a ton of things now and so I’m very careful.  Naturally, cutting back on HFCS is good for weight loss.  Some people can lose pounds just by taking out sodas.

To top off all of this, I’m now on Weight-Watchers’ Core plan, which means no oils (except the good ones in limited portions), no sugars (except what naturally occurs in fruit), no dairy products (unless fat-free and sugar-free), no fatty meats (everything must be lean), no alcohol, and no breads (only whole-grain sugar-free products and in a limited portion per day).

Now you have a clear picture of what my meals entail now that I’ve laid out all of the items I avoid eating for one reason or another.  Thus, I now present an idea of what my last three meals contained:

• Dinner last night:  Roast Beef, carrots, onions, potatoes (potatoes are part of my limited whole-grain/starch intake), and brown rice.
• Breakfast this morning:  1 cup of oatmeal with a small container of diced pears (just a little sugar in the oatmeal since I’m not quite ready for unsweetened oatmeal and won’t eat it with splenda or something).
• Lunch right now (just finished before I typed this post):  1/2 cup of ham salad (made from turkey ham, light mayonnaise, dill relish and onion), a handful of broccoli spears (raw), a handful of carrot sticks (raw), one banana and 1 small WW snack bar (1pt)

I’m working on ideas to expand my choices and make it less boring, but as of right now, I’m now setting a short-term goal.  I found that this is the one thing I’m missing from my plan.  I’ve lost over 30 pounds so far and if I push myself and lose one pound a week, I can get my 50 pounds lost magnet from WW by the end of June.  Thus, my goal is to lose another 20 pound before summer really kicks into gear.

As for how I will do this, I recommend following the plan that’s outlined in this Unclutterer.com article, “Making Your Resolutions a Reality“.  I’ve already started with step one, though I intend on making a small sign for my work computer and a small sticker on my MacBook so that I see it every time I look at the monitor/screen.  I may post later what I’ve done to complete the other steps of the article.

219! That’s what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1.4 pounds.

A good loss for the week despite some indiscretions.

At the beginning of this week it looked like it was going to be an easy transition back into living the healthy life from the gluttony of holiday living. Sadly I hit a few stumbles that made the transition just a little less smooth.

One of those stumbles was a literal stumble. On Monday morning I stubbed my toe pretty bad. The official consensus between my lovely wife and I is that the toe is broken. I skipped my Wednesday run to let the toe heal and unfortunately replaced it with a catered lunch of Chinese and 4 hours of sitting on my butt in a meeting.

I was also hit with a case of the cravings this week… a few of which I gave into a lot easier than I expected.

I did have one major triumph this week. I completed my first outdoor 5k run on Monday. I had managed to hit 5K on a treadmill but could never repeat the mark outside. Amazingly I did it for the first time with a broken toe, although I didn’t know the toe was broken at the time.

I am hoping to hit the gym good and hard next week with a healed toe and renewed determination. The “real 5K” is just a little over 2 months away and a vacation requiring swim suits is not far beyond that. This is no time for slacking.

Speaking of slacking, I found this during some spring cleaning this week.
It’s an ad I did in 2000 for Excel Energy. It was my first national print ad. Honestly I think it was my only national print ad. I am a much better voice talent than I am a model. If you can’t tell, that’s me in the back.

When I first started acting professionally 10 years ago my agents told me I needed to either gain 50 pounds to get work as a character actor or lose 50 pounds to get work as a leading man. In the past 10 years I have managed to do both, yet neither seemed to help my acting career.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
1/11: 219lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
5 pounds to go.