FatBloggers.net A little push to lose the tush.

After reading Charles last post and writing a pretty nasty post about my latest feelings on my blog (you can check it out here) I decided to post something positive.  I’ve blown off a lot of steam and am now feeling more relaxed.

For people who don’t know, I had a pretty bad time last week with lots of pain in my knees and legs and an even worse weekend–I could barely walk and then my scale suddenly decided to not work anymore.  Every disaster story needs a grand finale and this is no exception.  On Monday I lost my keys; on Tuesday my new scale arrived and I pulled it out of the box only to discover it was broken; and finally my polar watch stopped working.

So that’s enough with the bad news. Let’s focus on the positive because despite all these problems, I achieved some stuff I’m pretty pleased about.   First, I lost another 2.1 pounds last week which makes me very happy.  Second, after having bought a bike ceiling mount over 2 years ago (maybe even more) I set it up and my girlfriend’s bike now has a nice place and doesn’t get in our way anymore.  The last bit of good news is that I found my keys.

This is a long journey and for sure we are all going to have bad days, but you know what?  Everybody has bad days, not just us poor people who are struggling to lose weight.  We should focus more on the positive, leave the bad days behind, forget about them, and remember the good days because it’s those days that will inspire us in the future and help us get past the other bad moments that will surely come along.

I’m not sure if my charts inspire anyone to move and start doing exercise and it’s true that in a certain way the chart is just a bunch of numbers.  But, it also tells the story of my hard won weight loss progress.  The steady decline on the trend line was achieved with thousands of steps and tremendous effort…to the point where I’m writing this post while sitting here with a full bag of ice on my left knee.

To finish off, achievement comes from effort, so fatbloggers and everybody who comes to this site, stay focused on your goals because bad moments and good moments will come your way and you have the power over whether you use these moments to bring yourself down or to buoy yourself up.

Last week achievements:

I’ve been exercising now for about 6 months… jogging/running for the last 2 months… and I’ve noticed something today. I’m sitting at my desk at work… and I wanna go run again. I already did a 3.8 mile run this morning and I should be too tired to care… but I wanna keep moving. I think I’m hooked on this exercise stuff.

I know if I had my bike in the minivan, I’d take it out at lunch. I’m just that stoked to keep moving… but this is impacting my work. Heck, I’m writing this as a short break at work. I can’t sit still very long at my desk. I get up every once in a while just to walk around inside the building.

This kinda rocks… cuz I never thought I would feel this way about exercise. Or maybe it’s that I’ve declared war on sugar and my low blood sugar may be affecting my brain…. Nah.

Speaking of my sugar war, I had declared last night that I would not eat any sweets or desserts for a week. The only sugars would be what occurs naturally in fruit or in foods that are not, by default, a dessert (like bread). Since I’m so pissed at sweets right now, the Krispy Kreme one of my co-workers brought in doesn’t even tempt me. I had my protein shake instead right after my workout while everyone else grabbed up one of those sugar bombs. Dangit, I’m gonna have a lost this next week if it kills me.

Oh, did I mention that we having a bunch of family gatherings this coming Labor Day weekend and I’ve already volunteered to make pancakes for the Sunday brunch? So, I’m sending a call out, I need ideas for some sort of fruit compote/salsa to make to put on my pancakes. I’m gonna carry on this war right through the holiday weekend and I can use all the help I can get.

So this is my first weigh in again! My plan this time is to count calories, which kind of worked with WW, and exercise. Sounds simple, yet I know it’s not. To start, I am going to use the Biggest Loser book and an Og Mandino book for motivation. I will do the “Couch to 5k” program because I think it will work if I do it. I am going to start riding my bike as well. This is the heaviest that I have ever been in my life and I am pissed off at myself for letting this happen, while consciously trying to lost weight! My weight is the biggest thing holding me back and I wonder sometimes if there isn’t some sort of psychological issue going on. Maybe I should see a shrink. Maybe a support group, i don’t know. For now, this is my plan and I’m sticking to it!

Starting Weight (Aug. 27, 2008): 280 lbs.
Starting BMI: 39
Weight Last Weigh in: (Aug. 27, 2008) 280 lbs.
Weight Today (Aug. 27, 2008): 280 lbs.
Current BMI: 39

Weight Change This Week: 0 lbs
Total Weight Lost: 0
NEXT GOAL: 270 lbs. (10 lbs. to go)

… in the form of “Encouraging Words”!

Seriously, I’ve noticed something about this last couple of weeks. It’s not just me, it seems that something is affecting most of the FatBloggers. I can’t really pinpoint an exact feeling except “discouragement”. Just the following examples show that many of us are entering a point of “bleah” about this weight-loss journey.

• John T in “Apathy strikes hard“
• Colin in “Will it ever end?“
• Alex in “My body fights back“
• Johnny in “Running in place“
• Ryan in “Two against one“
• Tony C in “Now is the time“

I’ve been feeling it somewhat of late as well.  I’m probably crazy, but I think part of it has to do with summer ending… at least it seems that way.  After all, kids are going back to school, lives now have to settle back into the nine month routine.  Our goals which we had set to reach before summer still (at least in my case) have yet to be reached and we’re very near the end.

We don’t want to set new goals, because they’ll be the same goals, warmed over and served with hummus.  We need to set new *realistic* goals, but not goals that will be so silly as to be laughable (”I plan on losing 1.0 pound by New Years Eve”).  We need fresh ideas on our goals.

We don’t want to beg for encouragement ,because it will show we are weak when we are supposed to be men and able to take on this weight bull and wrangle it to the ground.  We need encouragement from you.  Yes, you… you know who you are.. you read these posts, but just move on to the next when we need some encouragement from you.. a note to let us know that we’re not as alone as we feel.. that our goals are not unrealistic, but our methods to reach them might be… we need to hear from you.  If not for every one of our posts… please go to the ones I just listed and give them a pep-talk.  They need it more than I do right now, but don’t just click “read” and move on.  Say something.

The order of life has returned somewhat to normal, but I’m tired of being lazy. Lazy about my eating habits, lazy about yard work, lazy about house work, lazy about bible reading, lazy about blogging, lazy with the checking account and bills, etc. I’ve squandered and wasted too much time, energy and money to be as fat as I am in a house that needs so much repair and decluttering with a bank account that should show more than it does.

We went to our meeting tonight and one of the things we need to work on is making an “eating zone” become a “no parking zone” so that we can reach the “end zone” (is football about to start or something?). Amy and I agreed tonight that the TV room would no longer be an eating zone, it is a no parking zone. We mindlessly eat and eat because the meal never ends when we’re watching TV. It’s time to actually use the dining room for more than just Saturday breakfast.

I also spent some time doing a few chores before sitting here right now to post my weekly weigh-in. I’m not doing nearly as much as Amy does around this house, so I need to do much more than I have. Amy suggested that we vacuum the TV room and put away the TV trays we leave out for the next meal. That way, we know we are creating more work for ourselves if we choose the TV room for a meal rather than go to the dining room which is already setup with everything we need.

I tried to do much better this week, especially this weekend. I know I succeeded in most of my choices this weekend, so I managed to wipe out most of the damage from the film festival. I did not completely succeed, but I think I got a good ball rolling for next week’s weigh-in.

Also, once again, I’ve declared war on sugar. I’ve let it creep back into my life too much again. So for one week, no sugar unless it is naturally occurring in fruit or in a food item that is not of itself a sweet treat (i.e. bread).

Starting weight: 319.0 lb
Previous weight: 271.2 lb
Current weight: 271.8 lb
Current loss/gain: +0.6 lb
Total loss/gain: -47.2 lb
Distance to 55: 7.8 lb
Distance to WW Goal: 21.8 lb

Cross-posted to WebCudgel.com

Here’s something you rarely read from someone who is working on losing weight AND has had the success I have… I couldn’t care less right now.

Anton, A drum roll please…

Starting Weight (Dec. 22, 2006): 392 lbs.
Starting BMI: 51.7
Last Weigh-In (August 12, 2008): 289.2 lbs.
Weight Today (August 12, 2008): 291.8 lbs.
Current BMI: 38.5

Weight Change This Week: +2.6 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: -100.2 lbs.
NEXT GOAL: None right now

meh!

Well, Week 2 wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. I tried to be good, but it’s hard, when nobody in your family is eating healthy. 2 days in a row now, we’ve had Mac & Cheese. Then Chinese, then Pizza. It’s really getting me down, because I need to save 1400 calories for dinner alone around here! I’m going to keep TRYING to lose the weight, but if my parents don’t start getting supportive, It’s going to be hard.

Starting Weight: 217.8
Goal Weight: 200
Last Week Weight: 216.4
Current Weight: 216.4
Weekly Weight Change: 0.00 lbs.
Total Weight Change: -1.4 lbs.
Weight Trend: 216.2
Weight Trend Weekly Change: -0.6 lb.
Weight Trend Total Change: -1.6 lb.

Not as bad as it could have been, but it could have been a LOT better.

I will be updating FatBloggers to WordPress 2.6.1 this afternoon. Normally, the site looks a bit wierd during the update. If all goes as smoothly as it has in the past, all the dust should be settled by 5pm PDT.

… and we’re back. That wasn’t so bad now was it?

OK, so here I am a year later. I am supposed to be 100 pounds lighter, but I am in the same place I was a year ago. It’s time to start over with new goals. I keep asking myself, “What is going to be different this year?” Life continues to get in the way of my health and I know it needs to stop. I lost over 25 pounds only to gain it back. Maybe 100 pounds in a year was overwhelming, maybe setting a more attainable goal of 50 pounds in a year is better. Seriously, if I lose 100 pounds in 2 years, that’s still pretty amazing and I will be where I want to be. Maybe I am too inpatient, perhaps too willing to settle for quick fixes instead of really doing what it takes to live a healthy lifestyle. So the journey begins again. I am done feeling sorry for myself, I am done beating myself up. I am going to erase this past year and start over. Today is the first day of the rest of my life… again!

I can’t believe I actually completely forgot to post. Usually I’m just too busy or something and it’s hanging out there on the edge of my mental to-do list just begging to be done. Yesterday was just plain crazy. We went to weigh-in and, after dinner, decided we would skip the meeting (we weigh-in about an hour before the meeting which gives us time to eat in the interim). We still had to go back and pick up our farmer’s co-op delivery from one of the other members and then we proceeded home where we spent the next hour or so chopping, shredding, slicing, bagging and freezing our share.

Once we were done, we went to our respective computers (where I proceeded to gloriously waste time surfing instead of posting; forgive me, readers, for I have erred). We had a visit from a friend of Amy’s and after that, we did our nightly ablutions and went to bed. It was only while I was at work today that I realized my mistake.

Now it’s pretty late in the evening after we had gone to the Asian Film Festival and saw Black Belt. It was a great movie (much better than Muay Thai Chaiya on Monday night). Tomorrow night is the final film, Be a Man! Samurai School, and closing night party. After that, our lives return to some semblance of order until our camping trip in October.

I gained, yeah, I noticed. I was hoping I’d let it slip, but I heard a few of you who scrolled down to the bottom of the post to get to the point. Last week was Amy’s birthday and I guess I was still suffering some of the repercussions of that wonderful meal (and the subsequent meals we’ve been having since we’ve gone a few nights to the film festival and didn’t have time to go home and prepare a proper meal). No real excuses, just another week ahead to do better (though stress this week is really crushing my willpower).

I only pray that the semblance of order returns sooner.

Starting weight: 319.0 lb
Previous weight: 270.4 lb
Current weight: 271.2 lb
Current loss/gain: +0.8 lb
Total loss/gain: -47.8 lb
Distance to 55: 7.2 lb
Distance to WW Goal: 21.2 lb

Cross-posted to WebCudgel.com