So, Mom asked to be thoroughly informed about what I am doing for my diet, so she could be jealous and therefore 'properly' motivated. Whoa boy, should she have watched what she asked for...wait, you did say thoroughly, right Mom?...
The rest of you didn't ask for it, but I felt like sharing anyway!
(I will explain the subject line number at the bottom, beware, this is a fairly long email...)
JoVanna and I have been talking about getting back into watching what we eat now that Wedding/Honeymoon/Holidays are over and we have more time to devote to it, so on New Year's Eve I weighed myself at Mike & Tracy's (our scale doesn't go over 330!) and found my weight to be 346 lbs. Eek.
So I decided that I was going to just kind of watch myself over the first couple of weeks, just minding what I ate. No counting calories, no psycho diet or anything. Just prepping myself for the inevitable major dieting. Drank less soda, got it out of the house. Ate less random things at work, started trying to get used to bringing my lunch. Basically prepping and hyping myself. I planned on starting after just one week of the prep, but the stomach flu will make you second guess the limiting of calories once you start feeling better.
So I set about some goals,
MAIN GOAL - Get healthy!
SECONDARY GOAL - Get to 250lbs
So here's my plan!
Count calories vigorously!
Using www.livestrong.com and their helpful program called The Daily Plate, I track every calorie I take in. I'm talking even the gum I chew! This may seem difficult or time-consuming. (it is a bit time consuming..) but we all know I am a bit of a geek and all the percentages, numbers, and averaging makes me happy. Plus the time I spend at the computer means I'm not spending that time eating!
Luckily most of what a person eats is already in their database. There are a few things that aren't, of course. For example, I've noticed whenever I change the recipe on a pasta box to include less or no butter, the 'calories as packaged' numbers usually aren't available online. But, they make it pretty easy to input the data yourself. Once you've done it once, it stays in your regularly eaten foods list. You can also make a meal! So instead of entering bologna, bread, & lite mayo every time, I made a Bologna Sandwich meal and can just add that. They even have quite a bit of restaurant menu choices available on The Daily Plate as well. This program keeps track of fat, calories, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, sugar, fiber, and protein also!
The Details
I am employing bits and pieces of various diets to help me in my cause and have created the following weekly plan.
Workout at least 3 times a week. Luckily there has been quite a bit of shoveling/sweeping snow and mopping at the store to help the number reach more like 5 times a week.
Cheat Day Revised I have found I need to incorporate a day in which to eat some things I crave for during the week. Without this I would definitely not succeed. But it isn't an everything goes cheat day, I still keep track of the calories I eat, and the total I allow is dependent on how well I do the 5 days prior.
example - To lose 3 lbs a week, I have to cut the calorie intake I need to maintain my weight by 1500 calories a day. If, Monday thru Friday I cut 2000 calories a day, I then have 2500 (5x500) calories I can add to the weekends. That would allow me to cheat a lot on Saturday, and a little on Sunday, to get myself back in the groove. (Believe me, it is easier to blow those extra calories on a day than one would think!)
Weigh In only Once a week I have read that a big subversive move people pull on themselves is multiple weigh ins. I figure I will keep mine to a sensible once a week, every Wednesday since that is the day I started. Plus it isn't distorting the data too much by placing it right before or right after my big cheat day.
Of course, not everything is going to be roses....
Expected/Previously Encountered Problems - Falling off the wagon. Unrealistic goals. Losing track of calories eaten. The inevitable? slowing down of weight loss.
Ways to beat the problems -
Falling off the wagon - The more and more I read about dieting, the more I see the main problem most people face is quitting. This is why I have used all the knowledge I have gained from previous diets, other people's diets, and literature on the subject to help me create something I believe I can stick to.
Unrealistic Goals - I am setting myself up to lose a big chunk of my weight. I realize that even within this diet, I am not eating as healthy as I can. Especially noticing how much salt I take in over the course of the week. First things first. Get to a more manageable weight, then build on that success to eat even healthier. I am at least adding these goals to the diet:
Cut carbs to at least 100% of the daily recommended allowance of a 2,000 calorie diet. (for me this is a huge deletion!)
- 300g recommended, averaging 375, but getting better. Cheat days hurt this average.
Up protein to at least 200% of the daily recommended allowance of a 2,000 calorie diet.
- 50g 'recommended', shooting for 100 every day, averaging 120.67 since I started on the 12th of January
Once I feel I have these two goals under wraps and happening frequently, I am going to try and tackle the salt issue...that's going to be a tough one.
Losing track of calories eaten - Have paper, have pen? Write what you eat down, portion size, and fill it in later in the week when you get a chance. Item not in the list of foods? Approximate. I have had to do that a few times now. I feel like I got as close as I could to the real numbers all while remaining honest with myself.
The inevitable? slowing down of weight loss - This I factored into my goals. So here then are my individual short term goals to reach my long term goals:
Since I lost almost six pounds in the first two weeks from just watching what I ate and the stomach flu, I figured to plan on losing 3 lbs for the first 6 weeks. Then 2 pounds for the second six weeks, then a pound a week after that. If I get ahead of that goal, great! If I fall behind I adjust as needed. Whether that means upping to a 2 lb week every now and again during the 1lb period or what I do not know yet. I found out this isn't such an arbitrary idea. They say a good goal for weight loss when looking to lose 50 or more pounds is 10% of your body weight over the first four months (roughly 35lbs, goal at the end of April, 311!) and 20% of your body weight over the first year (roughly 70lbs, my exact goal of 276!)
So the numbers: (with roughly every 5 week goals)
12/31 --- 1/7 = 343
1/7 --- 1/14 = 340
1/14 --- 1/21 = 337
1/21 --- 1/28 = 334
1/28 --- 2/4 = 331
2/4 --- 2/11 = 328
2/11 --- 2/18 = 326 20lb!
2/18 --- 2/25 = 324
2/25 --- 3/4 = 322
3/4 --- 3/11 = 320
3/11 --- 3/18 = 318
3/18 --- 3/25 = 316 30lb!
3/25 --- 4/1 = 315
4/1 --- 4/8 = 314
4/8 --- 4/15 = 313
4/15 --- 4/22 = 312
4/22 --- 4/29 = 311
10%!
4/29 --- 5/6 = 310
5/6 --- 5/13 = 309
5/13 --- 5/20 = 308
5/20 --- 5/27 = 307
5/27 --- 6/3 = 306 40lb!
6/3 --- 6/10 = 305
6/10 --- 6/17 = 304
6/17 --- 6/24 = 303
6/24 --- 7/1 = 302
7/1 --- 7/8 = 301 45lb!
7/8 --- 7/15 = 300
7/15 --- 7/22 = 299
7/22 --- 7/29 = 298
7/29 --- 8/5 = 297
8/5 --- 8/12 = 296 50lb!
8/12 --- 8/19 = 295
8/19 --- 8/26 = 294
8/26 --- 9/2 = 293
9/2 --- 9/9 = 292
9/9 --- 9/16 = 291 55lb!
9/16 --- 9/23 = 290
9/23 --- 9/30 = 289
9/30 --- 10/7 = 288
10/7 --- 10/14 = 287
10/14 --- 10/21 = 286 60lb!
10/21 --- 10/28 = 285
10/28 --- 11/4 = 284
11/4 --- 11/11 = 283
11/11 --- 11/18 = 282
11/18 --- 11/25 = 281 65lb!
11/25 --- 12/2 = 280
12/2 --- 12/9 = 279
12/9 --- 12/16 = 278
12/16 --- 12/23 = 277
12/23 --- 12/30 = 276 20%!
So with luck, here's what will happen by New Year's 2010
- I will be down to 276 pounds.
- I will have a healthier diet of all types of foods. Including many veggies and fruits.
- I will hopefully find a drink alternative that I like such as diet soda or tea.
- I will have better joints, including my knees!
- I will be set up to lose the last 26lbs by New Year's Eve 2011.
- I will sleep better and snore less!
UPDATE
I've almost completely lost my taste for soda. At least the really sweet fruit flavored ones. I had a Sunkist on the first cheat day, and had to throw it away after drinking 8 ounces. I had a Dr Pepper on my last cheat day, and even it didn't taste too great. Maybe time to give a Zero or One soda product a chance...
As of 1.28.09 I am at 332 lbs. A loss of 14lbs at 4.05% weight lost! One month and trucking along.
Also, I couldn't possibly do this without the help, love, and understanding of my beautiful wife, JoVanna. Thanks for putting up with all of my insane fixation and understanding it works for me!
Thanks for reading! If you got this far...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
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