190 pounds lost! a walk in the rain and some pictures to boot!

Last night I told my wife that if I stayed even with my weight this week that I have changed everything about my eating habits and health in general, let alone if I showed a loss. Changing ones life by making better food choices is a concept that has escaped me for many years but I think I got it this time around, I believe that just a small bit of success can go a long way where pushing someone to keep on keepin on with something, even through the not so good weeks. This week I have struggled a bit because of hurting my back early in the week so I couldn't exercise the way that I have been in recent weeks but hey! Friday is here and that means that I weigh in. First time on the scale told me 344.2 pounds, this is good news! second time on 344.0 pounds, third time was 344.2 again so that's what we will call it, 344.2 pounds which is a 1.2 pound loss for the week! with no exercise? how can that be? I have read all over the internet that you must exercise for hours per day and starve yourself! all joking aside I am very happy with the loss this week. This weeks loss brings me to a total of 190 pounds lost since starting and only 10 pounds away from having lost 200 pounds, That feeling is surreal to me. Here is my scale photo for the day as well as some things that weigh the same as me and as much as I have lost.

Fred Flinstone eat your heart out! would ya look at that scale drop!

An adult Striped dolphin weighs up to 344 pounds or 156 Kilos which is what I weigh currently.

Jenn from season 5 The biggest loser weighed in at 190 pounds by the finale, That is what I have lost so far!

Last night I did go for a walk, in the rain, and it was very nice to get out alone and walk in the dark with the light rain falling on and around me, I should probably say almost alone though. The walk was 1.5 miles and it took me 26 minutes so slightly better than 3mph and I said almost alone because there were little frogs all over the road! not something I am use to having grown up in a city, seeing trash, or the random stray dog maybe but not little frogs everywhere! I snapped a pic of one last night with my flashlight and cell phone.

This guy was about 3 inches long from nose to butt.

Over all I am pleased with this weeks scale result, especially because I have done next to no exercise besides a couple of walks. I am a mere 10 pounds from having lost 200 pounds and am enjoying things that I was letting pass me by just slightly over a year ago, Lots of people think that it will take too long to lose the weight, or that the amount of weight to lose is just too much to lose by eating correctly and moving more, including me at one point. If I had kept that way of thinking I would surely have been on my way to 600 pounds and maybe even death, look at it this way, do nothing and guarantee that the weight will stay attached to our bodies or choose to do something about it and it will come off, even if its slow, isn't slow better than not at all? if I had chosen to keep on the road that I was walking...wait no I couldn't walk very far back then, so if I had chosen to stay on that road I do honestly believe that it would have been short lived. We cannot stop the clock, time WILL keep going whether we chose to do something about our condition or not and there is nothing that we can change about that fact BUT we can change how we spend our time. Will it be spent shoveling piles of processed high calorie high fat junk into our pie holes while sitting motionless watching Doctor Phil or Oprah? or will it be spent living life to the fullest, eating properly and exercising moderately? I have made my choice, have you?

Grab a big glass of H2O and thanks for following.

As Ever
Me

Making choices...

Making good choices along with being driven to accomplish a specific task is the formula needed to lose weight and it is as simple as that. The other side of that coin has the complete opposite effect where bad choices and unfocused health habits can cause extreme weight gain & the break down of a fit body. I don't know how the conversation came up but last night wify and I were talking about "old times" and how we would eat and my evening trips to Del Taco on the way home from work came up, as I was mentioning to her that I would grab 3 extra cheese burgers and devour them before I got home so that she would not know about them she said "Imagine just how many calories were in that meal" My response was "I don't want to know" but out came our calorie book. I was actually disgusted at the figure she came up with for my average take on a late night run to good ol Del Taco, without getting into the specifics lets just say I was consuming 3300 calories from a single stop on my way home from work almost every night, so 3 times per week on average at 9:30 pm I would stop and grab a big bag of fat ass for myself and willingly stuff it into my piehole.

The idea of eating that way now is so foreign to me that I honestly cannot believe that it was me, but it was. Lets look at me now, I eat an average of 1700 calories daily and can honestly say that I enjoy my food more now than I have in quite some time. I have always been creative with cooking and nine out of ten times that I cook something that someone has not tried before I get asked for the recipe, this has always been the case yet I chose to eat at fast food restaurants and or out of plastic packaged boxes. Last night I tried a little chicken recipe that I read on a forum but I changed it up a bit to fit how I would enjoy it and it was a big hit all the way around with my family. I took boneless skinless chicken breast and pounded it flat, I then mixed a wedge of laughing cow garlic & herb cheese with a bit of spicy mustard and spread it thin over the flattened chicken breast. After the cheese was on the breast I put 1.5oz capicola over the entire thing and I placed thinly sliced green bell peppers at one end of the concoction. Minced garlic and black pepper along with some other spices went on next and then I rolled it up and seam down placed it into a casserole dish, it was baked at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. I served rice with pueblo pepper sauce and light sour cream on it along with some green beans with the chicken rolls and was very pleased with how the whole meal came out, have a look I snapped a picture before I dug in.

This was a pretty good meal if I do say so myself, click it for a larger view.

My total calories for the day came in at 1705 and it was pretty balanced I think, I drank 1 gallon of green tea, about 12oz of coke zero (1 glass) with dinner and maybe 3/4 gallon water so Iwould say I was properly hydrated and I rode my bike for 22 minutes in the morning and took a 1.5 mile walk @3.1 mph roughly as well as my squat routine, so exercise was good for the day as well. Have a look at the menu from Tuesday.

03/24/09

Breakfast
8:30 AM
2oz capicola 100
2 slices whole wheat bread 140
1oz American cheese 110
1 T miracle whip 35

Lunch
12:15 PM
2.5oz ground chicken 105
1oz light cheddar 80
3 taco shells 150
tomato/lettuce/light sour cream 55

3:00 PM
small apple 80

Dinner
6:15 PM
7oz baked chicken breast 350
3/4 cup white rice 150
1 cup green beans 40
1 wedge laughing cow 35
1.5oz capicola 75
Bell peppers 10
light sour cream 20

8:15 PM
1 apple 90
1 orange 80

Tuesday was pretty much a perfect day where this weight loss regimen is concerned, I ate well, I exercised enough and I stayed hydrated. That's all I got for today, remember to stay hydrated and exercise is key, Thank you for following along with this fat dude getting thinner and know that you can do it too as long as you are willing to put in some hard work and take an honest assessment of how you are treating your body, 3300 calories worth of bad Mexican fast food is does not a good diet make. Grab that H2O and keep on keepin on, YOU are the one at the wheel, YOU are the one lifting fork to mouth and YOU are the one that has to make the choice to live healthy.

As Ever
Me

Weigh in! 13 more pounds until 200 pounds lost!

Hard work is paying off on the scale, who wouldda thunk? I again this week have stayed within plan almost 100%, I say almost because of the St. Pattys dinner but even that was only slightly off the beaten path, but its paid off again with another good weigh in. I woke up feeling good about this week because of all of the exercise that I have done and I stepped on the scale to see a 347.4 lb flash across at me, which was followed by another and that makes for a four pound loss this week. It is actually a 3.8 pound loss but hey! we will call it four because ships have not sailed since Wednesday night. My total weight loss to date is 187 pounds which means I am a mere 13 pounds away from dropping 200 total pounds and that is mind blowing to me. I can remember a conversation that I had with a friend of mine about 2 years ago when I moved back to CT where he said that his father had a weight loss surgery and lost 100 pounds and that number was absolutely amazing to me and still is! but I thought about how hard and how long a number like that would take to reach and it was daunting, here I am 13 pounds away from losing double that, Man am I glad I woke up and started losing the weight. Here is a photo of my scale this morning and some things that weigh as much as me as well as much as I have lost.

My feets and a 347 pound weigh in, I know I know thems is some beautiful dogs...for a Flintstone!

This 1986 Suzuki RG400 weighs in at 347 pounds like yours truly.

Jana Linke Sippi weighs 187 pounds which is how much I have lost so far, imagine carrying her around on your back all day!

If you couldn't tell I am very happy with my 4 pound loss this week, I have earned it! I plan on sticking to this program of riding plus walking every day as it seems to be doing the trick, I have had a good couple of weeks where losing pounds goes and well, I like it! My calories yesterday came in at 1700 and I drank more than 2 gallons of fluid, with one gallon being green tea and the rest water. Weather stopped me from getting a walk in but I did ride my bike so I am happy with that and today looks nicer out if not a bit colder so I may try and squeeze a walk into my afternoon.

Just like the way that I felt back a couple years ago listening to my friend tell me about his fathers weight loss I know that someone is reading this and thinking about how long or how hard it will be to do the same thing BUT it won't happen until a decision to do something about it is made. Even the longest journey starts with a single step and that's all that can be asked of anyone, but if that first step is not taken, chained to a disability we remain. Just do it, grab that tea or water and drink it down, hop on that bike and go for a ride or open your front door and take a walk, it really is that simple as far as exercise and the food is easy once the addiction part goes away.

Thats all I got for now, grab yourself a glass or 4 of H2O and make sure to get some movement in today. Thank you for the support that you leave me in my comments, it helps more than you know.

As Ever
Me

183 total pounds lost! weigh in time has come.

This morning I woke up and right to the scale I went because I had a good feeling that I would come in below my all time low of 352 pounds and I did! I dropped four pounds this week which brings me down to 351 pounds and that will make today the lightest I have been in a very long time, I have lost a total of 183 pounds to date and it feels good to be moving in a positive direction and actually being lighter week by week again, This weeks weigh in is proof positive that you get what you put into a weight loss program.

I worked hard this week to stay within my calorie limits and to make sure that I was exercising every day and the results were very much earned this week. Now here is a recap, I ate no more than 1700 calories every day but one where I came in slightly higher than that but only by 20 or so if I remember right. Then there is the exercise, I rode my bike 7 of the last 8 days and have been walking a lot, maybe 5 of the last 8 days I got in an almost 2 mile walk and have to admit that I feel great for my efforts, it is very true that exercise makes us feel good. When I exercise I actually crave the movement, I feel like I am cheating myself out of a treat when I miss my exercise for the day. I have replaced cakes, doritos or a cheeseburger as a treat with the way that I feel after a good hard ride on the bike or a fast paced walk or even both! Imagine that, actually craving the exercise, replacing those bad habits with good ones, and its not as hard as you may think. I have not posted up my compare shots lately because I had not broken past the 352 barrier but this week I did so here are some pics for your viewing pleasure.

This Kawasaki Ultra 130 jet ski comes in at 351 pounds like yours truly.

This little scooter comes in at 183 pounds which is what I have lost so far, imagine carrying this around on your back all day!

Now to keep the momentum through this week as well and hit those 340's for next Friday will be my goal for the next weigh in day. Yesterdays numbers came in at 1635 total calories and I rode my bike for 20 minutes after a late night walk and felt good for doing so. IF you are not convinced yet that all that is needed for weight loss to occur is a little self control, a sprinkle of hard work and some discipline shaken not stirred together, pull up a chair and watch, I will prove it to you.

Get that fluid down the hatch and that movement MUST happen! Trust me, once it is a habit you will no longer think of it as anything but what you WANT to do, It will not be sugary treats or greasy burgers that consume your thoughts, you will instead crave a rapid heart rate and beading sweat, the burn that comes with a good workout will be the "treat" that drives your every second of the day and before you know it healthy living will happen right before your eyes, astounded and impressed with yourself victory will be yours.

As Ever
Me

Hit the stage and knock the curtains down..

Last Friday I weighed 357.4 pounds, and Sunday I weighed 360 pounds then Monday I decided enough was enough with this fooling around where my weight loss is concerned stress or no stress it was time to get back to business. This morning I woke up and felt tired because of a rough night sleeping but now that I have my bearings I feel good, in fact its a noticeable difference in how I was feeling last week and the only things that have changed are the fact that I am eating within my calorie range and I am exercising daily again, a little hair of the dog perhaps. Though I do not think that I will get below my lowest weight of 352 by tomorrow morning I do think it will be significantly lower than the shameful 360 that it was on Sunday.

Last night I asked my wife to take some photos for my compare picture pile and I noticed something that I think is pretty cool, even though I have juggled the same 6 pounds for the last month I am smaller than in my last compare picture from 45 days ago, This can only mean that the skin is shrinking around the new me, and for that I am happy. Now let me tell you about a tee shirt that was given to me by an employer when I was 20 years old, it was almost brand new when I stopped working there and because I am the way that I am I kept it. This shirt has been used by wify for a couple years as a "cozy" shirt to sleep in but I decided when I started this weight loss thang that it would be my "ultimate goal shirt" so last night I thought I would try it on and what do ya know it just about fits! I am not saying I would wear it out or anything but I cannot believe that it is 90% wearable! it is short and it is slightly too tight but I can remember a time just 14 months ago when that same shirt would just fit over my chest and arms and there was no way that it was going any further down my body and now it almost fits, talk about a great feeling! I guess I was off with my "ultimate" size being that shirt, I guess it was a time when I was 100% comfy with myself and my size and at 534 pounds it was a FAR way off so felt like a good end game spot to be, of course I still have a ways to go and where I stop nobody knows.


It would appear that I am back! I look forward to my exercise again and I actually had to eat something extra with dinner to get in all of my calories yesterday. The little man in the plastic magic box said that this weekend will be beautiful so I am going to plan on getting a walk or 3 into that time along with the bike rides, I have a funny feeling that if I am riding the bike and walking that the weight will start to retreat again post haste and well that can only be a good thing.

The plan for today you ask? same as yesterday, eat right, exercise and drink until my eyes float, simple right? well it really is and staying focused is the key. Sometimes there are uncontrollable circumstances that can dictate the direction that any given plan heads but at the end of the day as long as control is kept at least partially, we will get where we are going. with that I will end another episode of my 3 guts, don't forget that H2O and look for the mini update later tonight.

Now Get out the way! I'm coming through..

As Ever
Me