FatBloggers.net A little push to lose the tush.

During this week (Sunday-Saturday), our congregation is observing the Days of Unleavens (yeah, old testament torah stuff; we observed Passover back on Friday night). During this time, we do not consume anything made with leavening products, primarily yeast, baking soda and baking powder.

The reason this concerns me is that most unleavened breads (which we are required to consume daily as the Israelites did as they left Egypt) are higher in fat and calories (especially since they’re not fluffy, they just take up space the amount of the dough). So naturally I expect the scale to show a significant increase during this time period.

I couldn’t be further from the truth. Though I missed a workout yesterday, I still got in three since the last weigh-in. I also changed it up today and replaced the 20 minutes of Elliptical machine with 20 minutes of 5 laps around our Call Center building (about 1.25 miles total) running one full lap and then about 70% of the rest running.

Though we had a Passover dinner Friday night (not a Jewish Seder, but roasted lamb, bitter herb salad, and unleavened bread), normal after-church small meal on Saturday and then a potluck on Sunday (the first Day of Unleavens), I still tried to limit my sweets intake, increase my veggie intake, and just have unsweet tea and water to drink.

All of this still resulted in me losing 3.2 pounds this week! This put me at a new record low since I started and only about 7.4 pounds away from my goal of 50 pounds lost. I just hope I can keep this up for next week’s weigh-in after these days are over.

Starting weight: 319.0 lb
Previous weight: 279.6 lb
Current weight: 276.4 lb
Current loss/gain: -3.2 lb
Total loss/gain: -42.6 lb
Distance to 50: 7.2 lb
Distance to WW Goal: 26.4 lb

Cross-posted to WebCudgel.com

Continue Reading

I’m late in posting this because yesterday I was up from 3am until I crashed around 9pm. I just had no energy to make any postings as we had got home late in the evening.

Well, the delay had nothing to do with having a weight gain this week. In fact, it is quite the opposite. I’ve been trying to eat less sugars and more fruits and veggies. I’ve also continued my exercise regimen and managed to bench press 155lbs for the first time. I’m also getting in serious amounts of abdominal crunches in the form of situps, leg-lefts and crunches so that there is a slightly noticeable reduction in my waist line.

I had received at least two compliments at work about looking better. My wife also pointed out that she notices a difference between my ID badge picture from work and what I look like now. In fact, I need to go check the mirror to see what she means.

Everything is going well and I’m 0.4 pounds closer to my goal of losing 50 pounds by summer than I was 3 weeks ago when I was at my highest total weight loss of 40.4 pounds.

Starting weight: 319.0 lb
Previous weight: 279.8 lb
Current weight: 278.2 lb
Current loss/gain: -1.6 lb
Total loss/gain: -40.8 lb
Distance to 50: 9.2 lb
Distance to WW Goal: 28.2 lb

Cross-posted to WebCudgel.com

Continue Reading

This week, I declared war on sugars and sweets. If you review my menu, you’ll see that there was a dramatic cut in desserts. I still did natural sweets (fruit, juices), a few snack items, and protein bars, but other than that, you’ll have a difficult time finding the old habit of a dessert at the end of every lunch and dinner.

The reason was mostly for my gout because it is still hanging in there (though doing the best today that it’s been since last Monday). However, I also decided that this would be something I stick with to fight off the gout and to kick start my weight-loss in the right direction.

This is my fifth straight week of losses on the scale and I want to see what I can do to keep up the momentum. Even my “celebration” dinner tonight was a Chick-Fil-A wrap with only part of the dressing, some baked tortilla chips, salsa and water. It’s a celebration because that was actually what I was craving more than sweets. Of course, I had not eaten nearly enough during today because I forgot to bring some fruit for snacking. This will have enhanced my loss somewhat, but I still think most of it was that winning battle against desserts.

I’ve kept up my exercise routine as well. I’ve only missed a couple of sessions due to my gout, but I ended up doing some while working through the pain of that ankle (in fact, sometimes it felt better after the workout than before). Like John quotes from his trainer, pain is weakness leaving the body. I’m here to say goodbye to gout and goodbye to that old me. The new me is here to stay and make me an even healthier man as I get closer to goal.

Starting weight: 319.0 lb
Previous weight: 282.4 lb
Current weight: 278.6 lb
Current loss/gain: -3.8 lb
Total loss/gain: -40.4 lb
Distance to 50: 9.6 lb
Distance to WW Goal: 28.6 lb

Cross-posted to WebCudgel.com

Continue Reading

Sometimes, what you eat catches up with you. I went to work yesterday with a twinge of a gout attack; I still managed to get in my workout. Today, I went to work and, after one hour, returned home. The pain was such that I could barely think; I couldn’t concentrate and was just wasting my time there.

This has been one issue I’ve had many times in the past.  I would get a workout routine going and then have a gout attack that would take me out for a week.  Then I’m having to start all over.  Of course, most of the time, that was due to not drinking enough water.  I know now that this is not the case.  I need to eliminate sweets for a while.

What caught up with me started with Friday night’s happy hour (Cinnabon cheesecake), Saturday night’s card game with an elderly friend (Peppridge Farms cookies, banana bread, and other cookies at church), Sunday (sweet cereal and pancakes), and a few servings of soda, resulting in the aforementioned gout attack.  Ironically, today’s meeting was discussing good health habits and one of them was cutting back or eliminating sugars and alcohol. Since those are obviously big contributors to my gout (there are different primary triggers from different sufferers), I made a personal promise to cut back on the processed sugars for the next week. This means I can still have fresh fruit. The only exception will be my protein bars that I sometimes use to replace lunch after a workout.

So today was the first time I missed my workout. My exercise partner took advantage of today’s schedule to go vote at lunch. I guess I’ll be working out the rest of the week (if my gout improves tonight).

I obviously have issues with control on the weekends and I really need to work on that. It is so much easier on weekdays when I have a routine.

Still, in spite of my weekend, I extended my loss streak to four weeks. I can do better and I will.

Starting weight: 319.0 lb
Previous weight: 282.8 lb
Current weight: 282.4 lb
Current loss/gain: -0.4 lb
Total loss/gain: -36.6 lb
Distance to 50: 13.4 lb
Distance to WW Goal: 32.4 lb

Cross-posted to WebCudgel.com

Continue Reading

in less than 24 hours i’ll be on a carnival cruise ship. poor me, right?

i’ve decided to look at the trip as a challenge. can i do well, in the worst of places when it comes to eating right? we’ll see. i’ve got faith though.

while i’m on the trip, i will be documenting everything i eat, both by picture and words. so be looking forward to a lengthly, in-depth post when i get back.

also, for those of you interested, on my personal blog i have a special guest blogger, pete thomas, who won $100,000 on season two of nbc’s hit reality show “the biggest loser” for losing the most overall weight. he will be doing a two part series on my website that, believe me… i’ve read it already, is absolutely incredible. so please stop by and show pete some love.

see you all in a week!

Another great one from Men’s Health

There’s a saying in the fitness industry: “You can’t out-train a bad diet.”That holds true almost 100 percent of the time—especially as you get older. I truly believe that nutrition is the biggest component of a good fat-loss program—by a long shot. Here are five things to focus on. These serve as the foundation for the Belly Off! eating plan.

• Take a look at how much you are eating now.

• If you are not losing weight, eat less.

• Eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, and protein sources. Don’t eat anything from a bag or a box.

• Give yourself one treat meal per week to look forward to. Not a treat day, just a treat meal.

• Plan ahead. Spend 1 to 2 hours on the weekend getting your meals ready for the week.

That’s it. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the Belly Off! scale. So far, guys have lost more than 12 tons of fat following these simple rules.

You can’t argue with that.

sorry for not being around much lately all, life has been nuts!

i am putting that behind me though, and while i won’t be blogging again for about a week (due to what i’ll be talking about below) i will be rockin’ it hard once i get back.

so, what is going on? i’m leaving for a cruise on sunday morning. anyone ever been on one? if not, let me give you a little insight on how a seven-day carnival cruise goes…

extraordinarily high quality food… all you want. dessert too.

no joke, there will be nights where the dinner menu main dishes will consist of things like, london broil, lobster tail, and prime rib… and while the idea is to choose one, you can literally just say “all three please, and two of each.” and they do it! and it’s part of the money you already paid! the same applies to dessert! imagine… you have the choices of creme brulee, bread pudding, and chocolate cake… and you can get all three.

oiy. i have a seriously HUGE challenge in front of me.

here’s my plan. i haven’t been working out at all lately, so while i am on this cruise, i am going to commit to working out two hours a day (in addition to the already high level of physical exertion due to just having to walk all the time)… an hour in the morning and an hour at night. i am also going to do my best to not snack at all during the day on anything other than fruit or a salad.  for breakfast, my plan is to stay healthy, and to eat it everyday (this is tough for me, i often skip breakfast). lunch will be light as well. then, when it comes to dinner… i will refrain from getting any more than one option from the appetizer, main dish, and dessert menu. and when it comes to dessert, i will attempt to either not eat it, or find the “best for me” dessert on the menu.

guys, this is going to be rough, and i’m not a fool to think i can come out of this losing weight. my goal is to break even, or not put any more than two pounds on.

anybody go on a cruise or vacation where you had tons of food in front of you before and make it through unscathed? how’d you do it?

Yes! This has been one heck of a week with many struggles, but many positive experiences as well.

Food: I only had one drink that was not on the core plan (a couple of glasses of wine last night). I managed to cut back on sweets and increasing fruit and vegetable intake. I took my lunch three days out of the five. I did not have any food at the movies Saturday night (Fool’s Gold was a fun movie).

Exercise: I did one more day of walking 2.2 miles during lunch on Wednesday. Yesterday and today, I finally got to exercise with my workout buddy, Jason. Both days involved 20 minutes on the elliptical (aka the torture rack for my quadriceps), 20 situps, 15 leg lefts, and then 30 minutes on free weights, machines and bench press (Monday and Wednesday on one group of muscles, a different group on Tuesday and Thursday). My legs and arms were Jello yesterday. Today, they were just plain sore.

I mentioned in my last weigh-in that I would post my menu. I’ll list it below after the “more” link.

Although one weigh-in months ago took me to the 40 pounds lost mark, I consider it a fluke as it dropped back down almost 9 pounds the following week. So, in my books, today’s weight loss of 36 pounds is my personal lowest.

Starting weight: 319.0 lb
Previous weight: 285.2 lb
Current weight: 283.0 lb
Current loss/gain: -2.2 lb
Total loss/gain: -36.0 lb
Distance to 50: 14.0 lb
Distance to WW Goal: 33.0 lb

Cross-posted to WebCudgel.com

Continue Reading

That is the headline in this morning’s issue of the Men’s Health Daily Dose. A real attention grabber, don’t you think?

SAVE YOUR PROSTATE… AND YOUR LIFE

More than 200,000 American men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. It kills one guy every 18 minutes. Beat the disease: Move around, eat your vegetables, and drink more. Two new studies conclude that such behavior eating a diet high in vegetables and lean protein, drinking moderately, and working in an active environment can reduce your risk.
Make yourself even safer with wisdom from MH: Having more sex or at least regular orgasms is just one of 10 recommendations for a cancer-proof prostate. And the things you eat can help, too: Get more flavor and protection against the disease with curry, shark, and five more edible cancer shields.
If you’re looking for exercise and beer suggestions, you know we’ve got you covered: Check out our list of five beers that do all kinds of stuff to improve your health, or try the grueling workout the Marine Corps is using to get battle-ready.
If you’re in the unfortunate situation of thinking you might have prostate cancer, use our symptom-checker and find the right doctor.

Seems I’m finally getting somewhere. Though I have not started the workouts with the workout buddy, I have started pushing myself to exercise anyway. Yesterday and today at lunch, I did a 2.2 mile walk in about 40 minutes. Today’s walk was tougher than Monday’s because I went a different route that turned out to have a larger number of inclines.

Hopefully, tomorrow, I’ll be working out with Jason and exploring new levels of pain. I’m looking forward to it because I could never make myself do it, but to have someone else encouraging me will make it easier. At least I keep telling myself that; I’ll let you know more when I finally experience it.

As for food, I’ve been making myself take my lunch more. I prepared a few meals ahead of time on Sunday so I didn’t have to think about it or rush off without it because I’m late and then buy fast food I don’t need to have.

I’ve also started pushing myself to write down what I eat and plan on posting my meal “plan” next weigh-in. This will have an limiting effect on my choices. After all, if I don’t want you to see something on that meal plan, then I have to decide not to eat it. So I just might skip that donut at work, because I know I’ll have to tell you guys too.

Starting weight: 319.0 lb
Previous weight: 287.6 lb
Current weight: 285.2 lb
Current loss/gain: -2.4 lb
Total loss/gain: -33.8 lb
Distance to 50: 16.2 lb
Distance to WW Goal: 35.2 lb

Cross-posted to WebCudgel.com

Recipe of the Week:  Easy Mexican Rice

• 1 can Rotel tomatoes (undrained)
• 1 can corn (undrained)
• 1 can black or kidney beans (undrained)
• 1 cup brown rice
• Season to taste (I used cumin and fajita seasoning)

Pour everything into a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce to low and let simmer covered for about 10 minutes or until rice is done.  Makes 4-6 servings.  If you are on Weight-Watchers, the recipe is core for those on the core plan.