FatBloggers.net A little push to lose the tush.

MarkFu brings up an interesting point.

I was raised with the philosophy that the phone was there as a service to ME! I never could understand why someone would tear through their house, knocking over furniture and kicking the dog to answer a ringing phone. The same holds true with my cell phone. If the call is important and I can’t make it without endangering myself or my surroundings. The caller is free to leave a message or call back.

Generally, I leave my phone in the car when I’m at the gym. I hear a number of them ringing from inside lockers in the locker room. Just the other day Mr. To-Damn-Important had one of those beetle looking devices hanging from his ear. I was plugged into my iPod, minding my own business of sweating and he was on the elliptical next to mine. Suddenly I was hearing a blow-by-blow account of the previous nights Dancing with the Stars. I was approaching a rolling boil, so I moved. But who the hell did this guy think he was?

Have you had any bizarre cell phone experiences at the gym (or anywhere else for that matter)?

You never know where you’ll get the encouragement you need.  I got the boost this weekend as I got once before.

A few months ago, I was at my youngest brother’s house and his wife, Amanda, along with my other brother’s wife, Deanna,  both were making fun of my jeans to my wife, Amy.  They both commented that my jeans were way too baggy and I really needed to get some new ones.

I did and got rid of my size 48 jeans.  It was a veiled compliment and I’ll take them as often as I can.

This past weekend, Amanda once again told me that I needed to get new jeans (maybe she thought I had not done so the last time).  I was wearing size 44×32 relaxed fit jeans!

So today Amy and I went to Walmart and I picked up four more pairs of jeans.  I got two 44×32 normal fit (not relaxed fit) for $10 each and two 42×32 normal fit at $8 each.  For $36, I’ve got four new pairs of jeans.

This gave me the incentive to go through my closet and remove all of my 46×32 jeans (two blue, 1 black and 1 tan).  I also went through my shorts and separated about 6 pair that were all 46 (the rest are also still 46, but I need to keep them until I replace them as well).

So soon, I’ll be offering the jeans and shorts as another “great” giveaway as Tony has done recently.

Bleah.

I gained 1.8 pounds and I was disappointed. In the last few days, I had made some choices I would not have made the prior week. My war on sugar had a small cease-fire declared allowing for a relaxation of the sugar embargo.

However, my wife pointed out that it may also be affected by my workout routine. I had missed yesterday (choosing to go to Texadelphia cheesesteaks for lunch instead). However, I had also been keeping a rigorous pace otherwise. This will be the first week I won’t be getting in four workouts at the gym at work.

The other affect I’m seeing in the mirror. For the first time, I can flex in the mirror and see muscles instead of a shifting of body fat. In fact, I’ve had muscles popping up in unexpected places on my arms. So she mentioned that part of my weight gain may be muscle mass too.

It was still disappointing, but not as disappointing as it was before she reminded me. I love her.

So I’m renewing military conflict with sugar in the hopes to force it to accept a much smaller territory of occupation in the country called “Onmymenu”.

Starting weight: 319.0 lb
Previous weight: 278.6 lb
Current weight: 280.4 lb
Current loss/gain: +1.8 lb
Total loss/gain: -38.6 lb
Distance to 50: 11.4 lb
Distance to WW Goal: 30.4 lb

Cross-posted to WebCudgel.com

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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

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so I decided to go to the gym instead of weight watchers today. It turned out that it had to be one or the other so I hit the gym and will go to WW in Friday or Sat. I weighed myself on the scale at the gym which is usually higher than the WW scale and I did it after my workout which usually seems to be higher than before I work out. The scale said what I was afraid of… 260. I am going to work very hard and hopefully the WW number will be a pound or two less than that. I wanted to see as high a number as possible so that I will be as motivated as possible. It’s always hard for me to get going again after taking time off. But I’m eating very well today and have already worked out so this is going to be a + day!

On another note… i have like 2 pairs of jeans that I wear most every day. One of them is a bit too small and the other is wearing out (my big toe got caught in a hole this morning and made a minor problem a bit bigger). So I have decided that I’m not going to buy any new jeans that are the same size as the ones I am wearing. I will wear these until I can fit into the next smaller size (which I think is a 36). So either i am going to drop a size pretty quick or I am going to wear increasingly deteriorating jeans along with my uncomfortable ones… or I will lose weight and my other jeans will fit better and I can buy some new ones that are smaller. Just another step in making health more comfortable than habit.

Jeff brings up an awesome problem, what to do with the clothes that are too big?

I have a proposal…

How about we start the FatBloggers.net Clothing Exchange? When you have clothes that you are willing to share, post what you have. A description, maybe a picture and terms of the offer. Are you willing to pay shipping? If the item was an ‘investment’ say a leather jacket, then there may be a price involved. But for the most part this is a pay it forward enterprise.

Thoughts?

Here’s me, taken about a year ago or so, at about 300 pounds. I hated having my picture taken back then because I was, well, fat. My oldest son just happened to have a camera with him when he snuck this shot. I’m glad he did, too; I need a reminder somewhere about how I looked back then. I have no idea how many calories I took in each day, but it was a boat load. And I had the stomach and ass to show for it. No way I’m going back to that look again within my lifetime. Sadly, the Oregon State retro shirt headed for Goodwill after I lost all that weight last year, but that seems to have been the only casualty. I’m much happier where I’m at right now.

As you may or may not know, I’m back on WW after packing on a few pounds over the holidays. I’m on my third week now. Last Friday, I went to a great Mexican restaurant, and another evening my fiance and I enjoyed a really good bottle of red wine together. I’m not a bit regretful about either of those eating incidents. Moderation is the name of the game here, and I’m learning to balance enjoying food without constant overindulgence. So this week, I may not have lost much, and I may even have gone up and ounce or two. We’ll see how it goes. I’m just not worried about it. Weigh-in tonight, then off to a nice dinner with Susan sans kids.

What’s your fat story?

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.