I can't really say what's going on right now, except to say that the pounds are coming off at a very fast rate.
I got back from the Capital City (or is it Capitol City? I think the correct usage is the former, but I've been out of high school so long, I don't remember) last night and I wondered what the scale would look like. I was optimistic because I had worked pretty diligently on staying on my diet. This morning, it read 212.4. Wow. I've lost 8.2 pounds in nine days. How is that even possible? I can't really answer that except to say that I think it will stop soon.
I feel good, I feel fine. Prior to this, I was struggling with the weight and really almost feeling desperation about not letting it get out of control. But, now, things are completely different. I've figured out a few things to eat on the road that are absolute go tos and that really helps.
I have talked before I think about eating at Subway. There's plenty of bad things there, but also really good things. Yesterday, I tried their double chicken salad. At $7.25, it's pricey for fast food, but I'm on expense account when I am in the Capital City, and I am hardly an abuser of that, so I'm fine with getting that. I didn't have cheese and I had honey mustard as a dressing. (I will probably go with the vinegar next time -- the honey mustard was fine, but I think I'd like a little tangy in there.) I was actually going to have cheese, but they didn't ask. Full complement of vegetables plus a bag of apples. Total was about 255 calories (here is Subway's calorie calculator) with 30 grams of protein. I was stuffed. The downside is the sodium: that chicken is pretty salty. Also, no carbs at all, and I'm not someone who believes in an unbalanced diet. But with that calorie content, you can have something else later that is satisfying as well. As far as fast food goes, that's a real winner.
On the way home last night, I went to Applebee's. Apparently, @dadboner was out digging a swimming pool (i.e. he wasn't there). I generally think that 'Bee's is crappy, but I have limited choices. I had tilapia, which was pretty much dreadful (grilled on a dirty grill), but it filled my stomach and it was under 500 calories. I had enough calories left over for the day to get a bag of almonds for the remainder of the trip. Applebee's has some decent low calorie offerings. They say they are all "under 550 calories", but investigating their website last night, I found that some of them are well under 550 calories. They have a lime shrimp plate that is 300 calories that I like. I assumed when I ate it that was getting about 550 calories. I now know it's more like 300, so I think I will add a glass of skim milk the next time I have it.
Thinking about where I've been and how I have worked so hard to get there, I have really resolved not to eat unless I have to. Of course, you always have to eat, but the point is that eating for me has to be (for the most part) about sustenance and not something that is a satisfying goal. That is not to say that I can't ever have an enjoyable meal, but my general attitude has to be that food intake has to be a very conscious activity. As long as I think like that, well, I'm going to be okay. I think that the process of losing this weight has really gotten me tuned in to that realization. It's one thing to say it, it's another thing to live it and change from not thinking, just eating, to thinking about what you eat and making wise choices.
Oh, by the way, when I graduated from high school 30 years ago today, I weight 162 pounds. At my max, I was 122 pounds heavier than that.
I was in the park working out on my own yesterday and the developmental rugby team ended up having practice at the same time. I stayed and helped coach/run the drills. It was the first real rugby I'd done since I went to a week of practice here in October, and prior that was a year ago in Prague. I have a bit of a love/hate thing with rugby, but last night was really good
I made the decision to join a gym. Eating 'okay' and golfing three times a week is merely maintaining a level for me right now, so I've probably got to kick it up a notch. It sort of annoys me, but Linds has been going to the gym three times a week for the last three months, and she loves it, so maybe I'll get Stockholm Syndrome, too.
Three weeks ago I started calorie counting. I've been pretty disgusted with my weight at 245. Just five years ago I was at 185 and even two years ago I was at 215. No longer needing to court women, I kind of let myself go.
Haven't checked my weight, but I've only had one day in the past three weeks that I've gone over 2100 calories (and that was a party), and I've gone for a longish walk nearly every day (the kid likes that, too). We've found several low-calorie substitutes we like just fine (fat free sour cream and ground chicken instead of ground beef, for example). The main thing calorie counting helps me with is avoiding grazing after supper until I sleep. I find if I just give my stomach some time, I'll eventually feel full (though that can take up to an hour!), and I feel much better in the morning.
I've also been to Subway a few times and have been able to keep lunch under 500 calories each time. I've found cheese doesn't really add much to the subs I tend to eat (tuna, club), so forgoing that helps quite a bit.
Yeah, I never have the cheese on the sub. Being diligent about counting calories is the absolute key. That starts with knowledge about calorie content. And also drinking calorie free liquids, like water. Helps to satisfy the stomach at mealtime. Plus, drinking water is good for you.
I keep reading articles that say diet soda ends up doing wacky things with your insulin to make you more hungry. While I understand diet pop is still bad for you, I have found it makes me full and I haven't eaten more because of it.
But yeah, I drink a ton of water and I rarely drink anymore (damn, brandy has a ton of calories). My issue tends to be too many helpings at meals.
It's very possible to drink diet pop and have a diet that keeps you relatively full. I managed to lose ~30 pounds while drinking 3 a day. Recently I've stopped drinking as much, replacing the two cans I would usually have in the afternoon with water. I do end up feeling better in the afternoon and I don't spend the last hour until dinner feeling hungry like I used to. Still, those cans in the afternoon used to be necessary for me to make the adjustment to eating less since I consciously felt like I was still consuming something.
that'll do it, to be sure.
I grew up in a family in which mom made just enough for one serving for everyone for dinner. What you got was what you got. I guess that pretty well conditioned me.
but I will add two things. thing one: I drink a lot of unsweetened tea (hot or cold). It really does help to stave off the snacking. thing two: fill your plate with colorful veggies. A little fat for flavor goes a long way with roasted, grilled, or even sauteed veggies.
I also always forgo the cheese there. Cutting cheese and mayos and such has been a good progress for me over the past year.
hehehe. Phyllo cuts the cheese, loses weight. hehehe.
The last time I touched < 190 was a few years ago. And that was just barely. I was religiously calorie counting at the time. I continued for around 6 months and never ballooned. Since then I've gotten up near 210. Also, I've gotten high cholesterol.
A few weeks ago I decided to start calorie counting again and also tracking my saturated fat. The latter has become the more difficult thing to stick to (13g / day).
With calorie counting I've found I need about a week straight of not breaking the limit for it to stick. Meaning no gatherings of friends and family, because those always lead to vastly overeating. Now that I'm past that week, I go into a night of a gathering thinking "Do I really want to blow the past 5 days of success in one night?" I finish a softball game and thing "Do I really want to blow my calories on terrible beer?" Generally no.
I also got sick for about a week and coming out of that I really don't have the desire to eat as much as a month ago. The habit is starting to stick. My body is recognizing the new norm. In fact yesterday I had eaten so little during the day that I could easily support a treat of _buttered_ popcorn and stay well within my daily limits. That's nice!
I'm also eating many times more fruits and vegetables than I ever have before. This isn't just about limiting the bad foods to stay within a range on an app. Turns out one can eat a gigantic salad under these limits, and that's generally more satisfying than a tiny hamburger on a bun with 10 chips on the side.
I do need to incorporate more exercise. It's nice the goal there will be more about feeling better and adding strength, not counteracting bad eating habits.
I know better now is that I cannot stop calorie tracking because "my habits have changed." My goal is to stick around 185 and see how that feels. It's been years since I've been there. Maybe I can bump up my limits at some point, but I know over time without calorie tracking I will lose the edge and end up right back at 210 or more.
(Side note: my oldest girl is now 9. My wife is concerned that "worrying" about calories could influence her to some bad habits as she enters the teenage years. I'm not sure, so long as the _reasons_ are clear to my daughter I think it will be a good influence. I think it's a handy excuse for my wife to avoid tracking her own calories while simultaneously whining about my weight loss and her lack of weight loss. Not that I think she needs to lose weight. She doesn't. 🙂
You are obviously married to my wife.
Or mine...at least those last three sentences are familiar.
When I graduated 32 years ago, I weighed just under 210. Peaked at just under 220 playing football at the Alma Mater that fall. Got hurt, lost a ton. Bottomed out at an emaciated 175 the following summer, before getting my mental sh!t back together. I've been in the 190-200 range for most of the 25 years (next week!) of marital harmony since.
When I graduated from college 32 years ago, I weighed 145. That's not a weight I have a desire to get back to.
brianS just likes to remind us periodically that he never has to worry about weight like some of the rest of us. I aspire to get to my goal weight and maintain like he has. I've got my eye on you, brianS!
You are welcome, Stickman! 🙂
Sometimes it is easy, but when it's not easy losing weight can be a brutal mindfu(k.
Which is where I was about 2 weeks ago. I was really worrying about going right back to 285.
Stick, thanks for posting your diet a whilst back. I'm working on the consistency portion of it.
Before I would rarely eat breakfast, and would often miss lunch as people schedule meetings at lunch, and I didn't make the time to go to the caf. But now I bring lunch and can eat at my desk.
That still happens (very rarely for breakfast), and less rarely for lunch. I usually have a healthy cereal w/ either coconut milk, soy milk, or almond milk.
I have been pretty good about getting S1 and S2 in as I make a bunch of snack packs of almonds, dates, pretzels w/ hummus, carrots, etc. and have them at the ready. I design these to be 130 calories. And I keep a bottle of water at my desk.
So I had my appt. w/ Dr. Paz today to review the bone marrow sample taken the week before.
For the week and a half after the bone marrow sample was taken, and before the Dr. Paz appt, this boyo was a little on the edge. Teh Interwebs had plenty of ideas on what could be wrong (several words that begin with L).
(drum roll)
Dr. Paz: Good news. We found nothing wrong. Your bone marrow is swell.
mmm, marrow bonezzzz.
Good news, indeed. Glad to hear it.