Entries Tagged 'goals' ↓
May 14th, 2008 — exercise, goals, healthy eating, motivation, trigger food
How many times have you gone on a diet, only to gain back the weight, plus a little dividend? For many people, dieting is a vicious cycle full of ups and downs, and plenty of discouragement. If you want to keep your weight off permanently, you are going to need to implement a few techniques. For most of us, staying at a healthy weight requires a lot of dedication and hard work, but it will pay off in a longer life span, less sickness and simply feeling better. Let’s look at a few of the ways that you can keep your weight off permanently.
1. Change your lifestyle -
If you want to keep your weight off successfully, more times than not this means changing your entire lifestyle. It’s not easy, but it is worth it. You don’t have to become entirely preoccupied with your weight, that’s not healthy. But you will need to keep focused on eating right, getting enough exercise and avoiding trigger foods that you know will put you back on that wrong path again. It’s fine to cheat now and again, but you can’t let it become a regular event. Allow yourself a nice dinner out every few weeks, but don’t fall back into your old habits.
2. Replace bad foods with better foods -
There are some foods that you may never be able to enjoy in large quantities again. There are also other foods that simply may be too dangerous for you to eat ever again. These are known as trigger foods, like we mentioned above. These are the foods that start you on that downward spiral that can be nearly impossible to overcome. If you simply cannot eat one piece of chocolate cake, it’s better to avoid eating it at all than risk falling back into your old habits.
Replace that cake with something that still satisfies your sweet tooth and chocolate craving but doesn’t trigger that old behavior. This works for any food, not just cake, that you simply cannot control your reaction to. It’s not easy and it’s more than a little sad. But, you can look at this way. Which would you rather have - a few bites of cake or a longer life that you can enjoy? A little extreme yes, but sometimes you need to get tough with yourself.
3. Treat every day as a brand new challenge -
If you’ve fallen off the wagon, don’t let that cycle continue. Every day is a brand new day where you’re going to have that chance to succeed at your healthy lifestyle. We all fall down every now again, but not all of us can get back up. Stop that cycle of falling and staying down, and start realizing that you are on a lifelong path towards getting healthy. It’s ok to take a break for a few days, but don’t let those days stretch into week, months and years. Get back in that saddle!
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May 9th, 2008 — Meals, exercise, goals, healthy eating, medicine, motivation, weigh in
After 3 weeks on the Jumpstart Medicine medically assisted weightless program I have lost 30 pounds… Which is above my expectations… I had hoped for an initial rapid weight loss and in deed I lost an incredible 22lbs in the first 10 days. After a minor disappointment last week (only three pounds), I am back to what I expect to be able to lose on a weekly basis from here on out: 5lbs.
Here is a graph of my weight loss (if you are reading this in the future this graph will have updated for future weigh ins as well)… Clicking the image will open to a larger image.
I achieved 50% of my 10 pound goal. The doctor thinks 5 lbs a week is a very good weight loss rate for me and as such I will fall in line…
My goal for every week from here to the end of my journey is 5 lbs. I have a stretch goal of exceeding 5 lbs, but I fully expect to be able to maintain the 5lb a week pace… With the help of the MIC Injection and the Phentermine, my hunger is in check for perhaps the first time in my life. I really do enjoy excising via competitive sports (golf, volleyball, basketball) and I also enjoy swimming… With summer coming up I might be able to exceed the 5lb weekly mark as my opportunity for swimming will pick up with the warmer weather…
Stay tuned… This site will be ramping up shortly to provide much much more while still tracking my journey down the weight ladder.
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May 2nd, 2008 — Meals, exercise, goals, healthy eating, medicine, motivation, tools, weigh in
After an incredible 22lbs in the first 10 days, my progress this week seems pedestrian. My weigh in was not with with Dr Sean Bourke as he was on vacation… Instead I meet another of the doctors of Jumpstart Medicine Dr Sooji Rugh.
Here is a graph of my weight loss (if you are reading this in the future this graph will have updated for future weigh ins as well)… Clicking the image will open to a larger image.
While my progress slowed it was still 3 lbs in a week… I expect that my weightloss slowed down because after the 1st week I was a little less careful about portion control and a little less diligent about getting exercise. I also cheated on one day.
I only achieved 30% of the weeks weight loss goal (mine not the doctors) and so I will set the goal again this week at 10 pounds. My take away is that if I want to achieve the weight loss as quickly as safely possible I need to stick to the diet and exercise more. This week I will attempt to exercise every day and not cheat on the diet at all.
At the weigh in the doctor talked about reading the labels on food. Not counting fiber carbohydrates and looking for lean protein. She also talked about how adding fiber to food (yogurt for example) while not reducing the countable carbohydrate count, will actually reduce the glycemic index of the food.
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April 25th, 2008 — Meals, exercise, goals, healthy eating, medicine, motivation, weigh in
All I can say is wow! I didn’t want to believe that my newly purchased bathroom scale was reading the proper weight, but my weigh in with Dr Sean Bourke at Jumpstart Medicine proved it to be slightly high.
Here is a graph of my weight loss (if you are reading this in the future this graph will have updated for future weigh ins as well)…
I have lost 22 lbs in 10 days. Going from 390.1 to 368.0 pounds.
How?
Well I am on a 1200 calorie food based (low carb low fat) medically assisted weight loss program from Jumpstart medicine. I forget the exact term the doctor used, but I think it was something like protein assisted fast. The goal is to put the body into ketosis, which given my weight loss I would assume I have done.
I have a weekly MIC injection as part of the program and I take daily Phentermine, Chromium Picolinate, a multivitiam, a B6 supplement, and B12 supplement.
I stuck to the diet strictly. If anything I ate a too few carbs or at least too few fruits.
I exercised everyday. I varied the routine from a vigorous long walk with my dogs to walking 9 holes of hilly golf carrying my bag, to riding the stationary bike and lifting weights.
I drank lots and lots of water. Way more water than I ever have before.
To get past cravings I have found 2 nifty tricks.
- 5 almonds counts as 1 protein and is a great tasting salty snack.
- 1 cup of non fat chicken broth has 10 calories. Add a little black pepper and cayenne pepper and heat it up in a coffee mug. It is very satisfying and has almost no calories.
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April 25th, 2008 — goals, tools, weigh in
When I first started I mentioned that I bought the Health o meter 844KL High Capacity Digital Bathroom Weight Scale with 1.5 in. LCD, 440 lb x 0.1 lb
. So far I really like the scale, but you may have noticed that I hadn’t posted an update on my progress. The lack of information is not that I am unhappy with the progress. In fact, the opposite is true. If my scale is reading accurately then I have lost a significant amount of weight.
The scale reads consistently. Using the scale on repeated occasions yields the same result. And using the scale before and after an event where one would expect to put on a few pounds or take them off (eating dinner and #2 come to mind) the scale read higher or lower as expected.
So the scale is consistent and relative to itself which is great, but I lack one final piece of information in order to have total confidence in the scale…
Wearing the same clothing and without eating or using the restroom I need to weigh myself on both my bathroom scale and the doctor’s office scale in short order. This morning I head to Dr Sean Bourke at Jumpstart Medicine for my first regular weekly visit (brief consultation, weigh in, blood pressure, and MIC injection.)
And so now it is time to calibrate the scale.
Freshly showered, breakfast, morning “routine” accomplished, wearing the same clothes I am about to walk out the door wearing I weigh on my 371.1 lbs bathroom scale. If accurate with my doctor’s scale I will have lost 19.3 pounds in 10 days. I will report back and finish the article after the visit and a trip to the gym.
SUCESS! The doctor had to measure me on 2 different scales to confirm. (367.7 lbs on one scale which was the original and 368.0 lbs on another.) Apparently that is a record. More on my progress with the next post.
What does this mean in terms of calibrating my scale… It mean my scale reads heavy and I can trust the number it tells me. I intend to use the number it gives right after waking up and taking care of any bodily functions necessary, but before breakfast.
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April 18th, 2008 — goals, motivation, tools
Everyone has heard of body mass index (BMI) and except in muscular people it takes ones height and produces an appropriate weight range…
Normal is considered 18.5-25… Over 30 is obese.
Calculating BMI is relatively straight forward… Where W is weight in pounds and H is height in inches then (703 is a conversion factor from the metric system):
[W ÷ (H)2] x 703 = BMI
Well given that my BMI was 40.8 at my initial visit I decided to figure out what my weight should be based on the BMI calculation… For that I applied some of my high school algebra to produce the following equation:
W=(BMI ÷ 703) x (H)2
Given that I am 6′10″ or 82 inches… Here are the various range boundaries…
|
BMI |
Weight |
| Current |
40.8 |
390 |
| Obese |
30 |
287 |
| High Normal |
25 |
239 |
| Low Normal |
18.5 |
177 |
By a strict definition I would have to get to 239 lbs to no longer be considered overweight…
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April 17th, 2008 — about, goals, medicine, motivation
As part of the medically assisted weightloss program I receive a weekly injection of Methionine, Inositol, and Choline (MIC). Here is what the packet my doctor gave me has to say about them…
These lipotropic agents belong to a class of substances that play important roles in the body’s use of fat. Of these substances methionine, inositol, and choline are among the mote noteworthy. Through their involvement in the lipid (fat) metabolism, lipotropics help maintain liver function and promote fat excretion.
Methionine
Methionine is a lipotropic amino acid which reduces fat and aids in the lowering of cholesterol. It also plays a vital upstream role in the synthesis of other amino acids needed by the body.
Inositol and Choline
Inositol and Choline are co-enzymes necessary for the prosper metabolism of fats. A deficiency in inositol has been shown to produce an accumulation of triglycerides in the liver. Inositol metabolizes fats and cholesterol and aids in their transport in blood vessels. It is therefore an aid in the redistribution of body fat and can help to lower cholesterol levels. Choline aids in emulsifying cholesterol. Choline also works well with methionine to detoxify amines which are the by-products of protein metabolism. Without choline, fats can become trapped in the liver, where they black normal metabolic functions.
I did a quick google search to see if there were any side effects or downsides and did not really find anything… Any body have a link I should read about this injection? Please leave a comment…
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Tangentially, I made it through my 1st entire day on the diet. In order to jump start the weightloss for the 1st 2 days it is suggested to only eat protein… I ate 4 protien servings of egg substitute (1 cup total) and 4 protein servings of lean turkey (4oz), and 4 protein servings of skinless chicken breast (4oz) throughout the day in 6 distinct sessions. I was not hungry.
I did feel a bit random… That is to say I felt a little wired, but also a little unable to focus. Nothing debilitating… The doctor had warned that for the 1st week I might feel different than normal…
I also exercised… I rode the stationary bike for 20 minutes. I 1 set or 10 reps on bench press, fly, military press, and lat pull-down. I also did 50 crunches.
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April 15th, 2008 — about, goals, motivation, weigh in
Well nothing like tax day to make you take the plunge… Recently I bid on and “won” the first month of a medically supervised weightloss program called Jumpstart Medicine with Dr Sean Bourke. It turns out that I did receive a substantial discount by purchasing through the charity auction. I am committed to this medical food based program until I reach my goal weight. This time will be different. This time I have help.
Anyway, today was my first appointment and it represents new beginnings for this blog… I intend to follow my journey through this medically assisted weight loss program and into a completely new healthy lifestyle…
First of all here is the bad news… I was up to 390.41 lbs with a Body Mass Index of 40.8 (normal is 18.5-25) and a Percent Body Fat of 39.0% (normal is 10-20). Clearly I am currently obese.
They had a fancy scale that provided a variety of various other statistics and perhaps I will look into writing about them as I figure out what they mean.
I will go into far more details in the coming posts, but to start here is the basics…
Weekly doctor visits until goal weight reached.
The Diet: ~1200 calories that breaks down very much like weight watchers only with fewer carbs. For 1 day, I get 14 proteins (~1oz lean/very lean protein, 6 carbs (vegetables and fruit, plain salad is unlimited), 1 dairy, 120 oz of water.
The Exercise: At least 60 minutes of rigorous walking 5-7 days a week. Don’t overdue the exercise (no marathons) until the effects of the medicine and the diet have stabilized. 9 holes of golf walking and carrying my bag counts. !!!
The Medicine: Weekly MIC Injection (Methionine, Inositol, and Choline), daily Phentermine, daily Chromium, daily Multivitamin, and optional weekly B12 shots. There are 2 other medicines for women which I will not be taken: Calcium and B6.
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March 23rd, 2008 — about, goals, motivation
Well… after making it through vacation last summer still on track I preceded to mail it in… I fell off the weight loss wagon. I am now starting weightloss attempt #778.
What went wrong? Commitment? Desire? Not really sure, but it is time to try again.
I expect to reset my starting weight and current weight once I buy a bathroom scale. I will officially start later this week. I am still on vacation and as such I will try to exercise a bit more…
I will reset with a blog post once I get settled in from vacation.
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September 13th, 2007 — exercise, goals, motivation
I haven’t been to the gym since before vacation. It has been over a month now.
I have been on my diet, but I still fear that first encounter with a scale since vacation.
I am going to go to the gym this weekend. I guarantee it.
I will report back on my progress or lack thereof regardless.
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