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For most of 2007 I have set a goal for weightloss that I confessed here and ‘in the real world’ was wildly random. I came up with the 196 lb. goal by simply starting with my weight last December (392 lbs.) and cutting it in half. When I would tell people that I know; family, my doctor, the Weight Watchers staff, etc. this number they would voice some skepticism. I felt that this was the typical family response of, ‘yeah right’ and dismissed it with an ‘I’ll show them’ attitude.

With 70+ lbs gone, I rewarded myself with the purchase of a fancy digital scale that also reads my bodyfat% using bioelectrical impedance. You don’t know how big of a deal this is. I avoided scales like the plague for 20 years. Generally the only place I would encounter scales were at the doctor’s office or at the various diet groups I would committ myself to, but to buy one? Never!

Since I purchased this scale, my weight has fluctuated a bit, but my bodyfat% has steadily gone down (thats a good thing), from 39% to 37%. Using that number, I have 118 lbs of FAT on my body! According to this site, that is the size of an average 20 year-old male! I seriously doubt that. What did they do, measure 5′5″ pipsqueaks? Most 20 year-olds I know are 180-200 lbs.

Anyway, (present weight) 320 lbs (minus) 118 lbs of fat, brings me to a lean body weight of 202 lbs! Since I KNOW that no one can get to 0% bodyfat, how can I get to 196 lbs? I would MUCH rather be a beefy Eastern Oregonian.

So let it be known (and reflected on my weightloss goals page) that my NEW GOAL is … 230 lbs!

That number is only 90 lbs away and I am hitting the iron 3x/week (on average), so it may get tweaked. Let’s assume that my lean body mass stays around 200 lbs. Weighing 230lbs would give me a 15% bodyfat reading.

Not bad.

But the funny thing, according to the government, I would still be obese with a BMI of 30.3!

Over the last few months I have developed two new habits. These have nothing to do with eating or exercise but they are directly related to the psychology of losing weight.

The first habit started shortly after I started wearing my wedding ring again. Five or six times a day I slide my wedding ring off my finger, just to feel how loose it is. It has gotten to the point were I do it subconsciously while I am talking to people or when I am sitting at my desk writing. I’ll be deep in thought and suddenly realize that my ring is off and twirling around in my other hand.

Having my wedding ring fit again was one of the first major symbolic victories of this journey. Sliding it on and off reassures me of how far I have come.

The other habit has a lot more to do with vanity. I find myself constantly running my had down my stomach to feel how flat it is. It’s another habit that has become subconscious. I do it all the time when I am standing in line or waiting for someone. Hopefully it looks like I am just straightening my shirt and not fondling my bely button.

Has this been the case for anyone else? What are some of the subconscious habits or ticks you have developed as the weight disappears?

Tony
11/6: 220.6 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
.6 lbs. to go

USA Today reported this week about the annual meeting of The Obesity Society where they revealed a study that determined that if you follow a reduced calorie diet and a set regimen of exercise, you will lose weight.

The earth shattering news from this study; many of the women (it was a group of post-menopausal women) in the study felt that since they were exercising, they didn’t have to follow the diet. Surprisingly, they didn’t lose weight.

I guess I going to have to give up the peanut butter cups as an incentive for each push-up I perform.

Drug addicts shouldn’t hang out in Opium Dens.

Alcoholics shouldn’t hang out in bars.

Food addicts shouldn’t hang out in gas stations…or leave the house after 10pm….or pretend to be actors.

I had a brief taste of my pre-fatherhood lifestyle last night and it triggered some not so long buried bad habits.

My college roommate was in town filming a movie so I went to hangout on the set as a background actor. Much less glorious then it sounds. This is a no budget production.

I left the house at 10:15pm. Mistake number 1.

On the way I stopped at a Holiday gas station to get a big bottle of water. Mistake number 2.

As I walked passed the frozen treats cooler I couldn’t resist my old friend Mr. Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich. For some reason picking up an Ice Cream sandwich made me decide I also needed some Ho Ho’s.

When I got to the set, a movie theater in South Minneapolis, I was handed a large bucket of popcorn and told to stand around talking in the background for 2 hours. Mistake number 3.

Naturally, I started eating the popcorn. If I hadn’t accidentally dropped the bucket on the floor I am sure I would have finished the whole thing.

I left the “set” around 1:30am with a craving for Wendy’s French Fries, one of my late night staples back when I was doing a lot of theater. Mistake number 4.

Here is the really pathetic thing. I drove around for a half hour, twice going out of my way to find a Wendy’s drive through that was open.

When I couldn’t find an open drive through I got frustrated and returned to the same Holiday gas station, where I purchased a Peanut Butter Crispy Bar and, just for good measure, a package of Hostess Zingers. Mistake number 5!

Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich 500 Calories / 24 Grams of Fat
Hostess Ho Ho’s 400 Calories / 15 Grams of Fat
Half A Bucket of Movie Theater Popcorn 225 Calories / 11 Grams of Fat
Peanut Butter Crispy Bar 290 Calories / 12 Grams of Fat
Hostess Zingers 440 Calories / 11 Grams of Fat

For a grand total of :
1855 Calories
73 Grams of Fat

Bad! Bad! Bad! I know…but here is the amazing thing. I don’t feel guilty and I don’t feel depressed.

I feel like crap with all that junk sitting in my stomach, but instead of wallowing in self-pity that could send me into a spiral of junk food binging, here is what I thought when I woke up this morning…

“Wow that was stupid! Well it’s out of my system now. I really want to go for a run!”

This is nothing short of a miracle to me. A bender like this would usually send me off the deep end for the next month, but my first instinct is to exercise instead of eat more! This is a big break through.

I am not trying to put a positive spin on last nights pig out. It was a horrible thing to do to my body and a sure sign that my food addiction is alive and well. But…. and this is a big butt, I still feel like I am in control. This slip is not getting the best of me and that has me feeling pretty good this morning. Minus the bloated belly and extreme stomachache.

Tony
10/22: 225.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
5.4 lbs. to go

You may have missed it, but this last Saturday (Sept. 22), marked the beginning of the final 100 days of 2007.  I stumbled upon a blog called, Hundred Day Head Start. The author goes on the premise that we shouldn’t wait until 01/01/08 to make a change in your life, do it now and get a 100 day head start!

264 down… 100 to go… are you better off today than you were 9 months ago? One year ago? Or will you be ’surviving’ the holidays, hoping that you keep your weight gain UNDER 15 lbs? Only to be one of the many that clog up the gym and WeightWatchers meetings in January?

Start today and get a 96 day head start! The gym is remarkably uncrowded.

I have two recommendations from this weekend.

Recomendation #1:
See the movie I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With

It’s written by, directed by and starring Jeff Garlin, who is probably most famous for his role on Curb Your Enthusiasm… or his co-starring role in Daddy Daycare for those of you without HBO.

It is very rare to see a love story with an overweight guy as the lead love interest. It’s even rarer for that overweight guys struggle with weight to be a central part of the story. Most rare of all is this movie which handles it all with great care and affection.

Instead of turning the movie into a bunch of fat guy jokes and put down humor, Jeff Garlin shows us a real guy, having a real struggle with where his life is headed… and being overweight is a part of that struggle.

You can tell that Jeff Garlin has been there. In the opening scene we see him sitting on the hood of his car in the parking lot of a convenience store eating Ding Dongs and chocolate pudding. He’s eating in the parking lot to hide his eating from his mom. It’s a moment that was very poignant to me. It’s a moment I have lived hundreds of times.

The movie is well written. It’s endearing, it’s funny, it’s a real joy and it is full of actors you know you know even if you can’t remember their names. Sadly these are the actors who should be household names.

I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With, is in limited release in art house theaters, but it is also available on demand from Comcast and some other cable providers. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Recommendation #2:

Steve and Barry’s!

Steve and Barry’s is best described as Old Navy meets Wal-Mart, but with a lot more style .

One of the great things about our weight loss journey is going through the closet and getting rid of all those “fat clothes”. Unfortunately it starts adding up when you have to replace all those “fat clothes”. It adds up even more when you have to do it again 5 months later because the new clothes you bought have become “fat clothes” as well.

After my closet purge last month I was left with 1 pair of jeans. I hit the local outlet mall two weekends ago and spent nearly a hundred bucks on three pair of jeans that hopefully will not fit me come Christmas time. A lot of money for some pants that may only last 4 months.

Then, I rediscovered Steve and Barry’s. They have some great, stylish clothes for dirt cheap prices. Jeans were on sale for $7.99!!!!

The clothes might not be the best quality, but for those of us who are truly dedicated to shedding the pounds, they only need to last a few months. So wait until you meet your final goal weight to hit the expensive department stores and head over to Steve and Barry’s for some closet restocking.

Tony
9/25: 234.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
14.2 lbs. to go

p.s. I swear I am not a paid shill for either of these things. Just a fan!

Hi gang, long time no post.  I’m still out here, and definitely follow the blog quite a bit, but it’s been tough to find time to post anything these days.  Here are some random thoughts about my current maintenance state:

• I have no idea how much I weigh.  It’s probably only up a little since I went on maintenance, but my pants mostly fit the same.  That’s how I’m going to gauge things for the time being.
• I haven’t been to Weight Watchers since July. 
• I wish I could need to find more time to ride my bike.   Winter’s a comin’.
• My standard breakfast:  Grape-nuts with honey and 1% milk. 
• I haven’t been to fast food in months.  Since like last March, before I started all of this.
• I occasionally have a Snickers.  Or a small vanilla cone.  I don’t obsess over it, nor do I overdo it.
• In the past, I’ve had some bouts of anxiety that would trigger over-eating.  I’ve got the source of those taken care of, for the most part.  The rest of them just kind of took care of themselves.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  Guys, don’t be afraid to confront some mental health issues that you might be facing.  Address them, take care of them however you need to, and losing weight will be that much easier for you.  Which will, in turn, help you with the mental health issues. 
• I feel better now than I have in the last 8-9 years.  I believe I’m getting a handle on this as a lifestyle.  Moderation is a good word to use here. 

Hope this post finds all of you well. 

The Australian Government is floating an idea to pay people $170 to enter an accredited weight loss program.

What do you think?

When you have time, take a look at the list of blogs that have joined the FatBloggers network by linking here. There are some beneficial blogs in the list on the right.

I swear I am not on a crusade. I was ready to leave the whole Britney thing alone after yesterdays post. I had said my piece and made my point. And then I opened up Yahoo News and was hit with this headline:

Harshest Words Saved For Britney’s Body

In general it is a poorly written article wrapping up the “she’s fat” / “no she’s not” reactions to Sunday nights performance. Again I was ready to leave it alone until I saw this quote from Glamour Magazine executive editor-at-large, Suze Yalof Scwhartz.

“Girls aren’t looking as skinny this season as they did,” said Suze Yalof Scwhartz, executive editor-at-large for Glamour Magazine. “There’s food backstage. They’re looking sexier.” At Glamour, she noted, a model won’t be featured “if she shows too much clavicle.”

A lovely, yet all together hypocritical sentiment apparently. Recently a few keen observers spread around the blogesphere have noted that Glamour Magazine did an impressive Photoshop job on America Ferrera for their latest cover. Take a look at the pictures and you’ll notice her face and arms have been considerably thinned out.

While it does sound like America has lost some weight since the first photo was taken, there is no way those arms are her real arms.

I know Photoshopping covers is a common practice. In fact the company I work for has been asked more than once to Photoshop 10 or 15 lbs. off of a celebrity. It is something we do with no small amount of ridicule for said celebrity.

My ridicule turns to anger however, when a magazine like Glamour feels the need to “tighten up” and digital tone a women like America Farrar, a woman whose career has been built on the idea that every body is beautiful just the way it is.

This is a serious problem. Especially when the editor at large turns around and claims her magazine is part of the solution. Sorry Miss Scwhartz, if you continue practices like this you are just as big a part of the problem… maybe even a bigger part of the problem…than the hundreds of snippy reporters blasting away at Brittney for her paunch.

I now officially retire my soap box. I promise the rest of my post this week will be all about me!

Tony
9/11: 236.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
16.4 lbs. to go

Cross published at Guess How Much I Weigh

I could care less about Britney Spears! I need you to understand just how much I don’t care about Britney Spears because it is the only way I can bring myself to talk about her. So now that we all know that I am not some closeted teeny bop idol lover I can get on to talking about Britney Spears.

Once again this morning, Britney is all of the news due to her “disastrous” performance at last nights MTV Video Music Awards. I happened to see part of the performance on the Today Show this morning while waiting for the weather report. I will agree, it did look bad and was probably an ill advised comeback attempt for someone not ready to be back in the spotlight. There is however one thing that is bugging me about all the media coverage.

Here is a quote from an AP article on Yahoo news this morning:

“As in most train wrecks, it was hard to focus on just one thing as the Britney Spears disaster unfolded. There was just so much that went wrong.

Out-of-synch lip-synching. Lethargic movements that seemed choreographed by a dance instructor for a nursing home. The paunch in place of Spears’ once-taut belly.”

Can you guess which part of that quote I have a problem with? Nearly every news report I have seen on last nights VMA’s mentioned Britney Spears’ weight as one of the things she “did wrong” last night.

Ok, now take a good look at these pictures. Do you see the paunch? Sure it’s not a set of six-pack abs, but I think Britney has a lot more to worry about then being ten pounds overweight and a little soft in middle. To me, she looks incredibly healthy. The only hint of a “paunch” is in this final photo and that may just be because of her pose and the angle of the photo.

But, here is the message I hear going out to young girls. “Be skinny or else people will make fun of you.” Sure I am super sensitive to this issue due to my current obsession with my own body. But as a father of two little girls it worries me to see how nonchalantly we can call a 130 lb. woman paunchy merely because she is a celebrity who once had a rock hard body. She has had two kids for cripes sake.

So here is my point, if you have young daughters who read the newspaper or watch the news or listen to the radio or watch MTV, do me a favor. Let them know that while Britney Spears may be a little off her rocker, she is a healthy looking young woman who doesn’t need to lose any weight.

Encourage your kids to live healthy lifestyles but at the same time be sure they understand what it means to have a healthy body image. And for the betterment of us all buy them some Ani Difranco or Tori Amos or Cat Power CDs. Please!!!!

Tony
9/7: 236.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
16.4 lbs. to go
Cross published at Guess How Much I Weigh.

p.s. Check out Tori Amos’ take on todays young female roll models.