20 pounds down ... more to go

[rollhead]

The fatso here (yours truly) decided back in May that he had -- had -- to lose weight.

Since my daughter is getting married in October, I hated the thought of my fatso image being preserved in our family history.

I set out on a quest...

I found a "personal trainer" who owns a local gym, and a nutritionist at the local YMCA.

On June 12, my trainer, Ron, weighed me in a 263, at 37 percent body fat.

Yesterday, July 29, he weighed me in at 242, a 21 pound loss. He has a fancy schmancy scale, which purportedly also calculates body fat. The machine said that all the weight loss came from fat, none from muscle.

My goal is to get down to 225 by my daughters wedding on Columbus Day, and to 199 by early 2010. Once I fall below 200 (with any luck), I want to work in a couple of days of running in my workout week.

Ron's goal for me is to get me down to 15 percent body fat, which should put me down below, or near, 200. (which will probably involve adding some muscle, too)

As of now, I am walking, swimming, doing an elliptical machine and also working with Ron, the trainer, twice a week.

I had to cut out the rowing I was doing because carrying the boat back and forth from the dock aggravated the osteo-arthritis that is particularly bad in my right knee (which also sports a nice Baker cyst)

Don't know if I can make it all the way to my 199 goal, especially since I celebrated my 20 pound loss yesterday with an over indulgence in cake.

Can anyone else share in what has worked for them? Any advice is appreciated.

[Brian Olewnick]

How much of that 20 pounds came off the head?

[stonemonkts]

It sounds to me like you have it covered really well.

I've worked with and alongside many personal trainers and dietitians (and unfortunately several physical therapists too). Combining weight training with cardiovascular workouts is the perfect formula, as well as varying the exercise routines (which you seem to be doing).

A while back Dolan recommended a heavy bag routine and I concur that it is an intense high calorie burn activity (and fun if you're an angst-ridden fuck like I am). I think a few roundhouse blows every now and then were pretended to be thrown at you!

It also helps if many of your routines are not mentally torturous. I actually enjoy the elliptical, and love to hike up and down small (1200 ft. or so) mountains. If I had friends I would add basketball (even though I suck) or tennis (ditto), but out here I'm a loner.

But the most difficult part of all is the mindset it takes to stick to a healthy sensible diet. What has worked for me is to accept that the "diet" isn't temporary but instead a permanent life change, and to just embrace all the ways your brain tries to mess with you. I try to step outside of myself and view the old mental triggers with bemusement. Easier said than done, but I keep trying. Also don't beat yourself up for slipping now and then but get right back to the regimen.

On a more practical matter, it is essential to eat the same calories per day that your target goal requires to maintain itself. In other words, to BE a 190 pound person, you need to eat like a 190 pound person. Seems logical but I find many people fail to view it like that.

Using the 190 pound person example:

Daily caloric intake to maintain 190 pounds = 86.4 (190 lb. expressed in kilograms) x 25 calories/Kg = 2160. That number is for a moderately active person. If you factor in an average of 400 calories per day of exercise, then you can get away with 2500-2600 per day.

The reason it helps to approach it like this is you basically assimilate your metabolism to work with the same intake you will be feeding it when you reach your goal. This will help maintain the weight loss in the long run. Look at it as a transformation.

Hope some of that helps.

[clinthopson]

When I was in the hospital, they killed my appetite, since then, I've been eating much less and doing various recuperative exercises and P.T and have dropped about 20 pounds.

I bought some pants with a smaller waist but I'm saving the fat pants because I have no faith in keeping it off.

[Root Doctor]

I once went from 220 to 140 in about 4 months, thanks to a fistful of black beauties.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by rollhead

Since my daughter is getting married in October, I hated the thought of my fatso image being preserved in our family history.

Congratulations! You've reduced your portion in the family history by one adjective.

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by Brian Olewnick

How much of that 20 pounds came off the head?

Hey ... my head is incorrigible.


Stony:

My trainer has me beating a heavy bag with a weigh bar. 25 hits... a few second pause. 25 more hits. Then he has me switch from overhand to underhand, doing the same thing.

Yes -- and what you said does help. I think I was eating more like a 300 pound person than a 190 pound person for a long time. I could get away with it for a while -- as long as I could run 10 miles a day. But those days are long gone.


Monte:

Actually, I am still officially "fat" (or more accurately "obese") according to the BMI scale. I have more than a few pounds (20-30) to go before I make it from "obese" to merely "overweight."

[Tom Storer]

Rollhead, I salute you in your fine efforts.

For years I've been a couple of points under the "overweight" limit in that BMI thing, but recently I've gone just over. I am not naturally one who is drawn to strenuous exercise or sports of any kind, although for a long time I went to the gym two or three times a week. I gave that up a few months ago because I was bored and because it's expensive.

My ambition was to find some other means of burning calories, but being a lazy fuck and a slave to routine, I haven't. As a result my weight slowly but surely inches upward and the adjective "pot" could begin to be applied to my belly.

I know how to lose weight and keep it down: regular, moderate exercise and healthy eating without excess. On both scores my willpower is proving inadequate to the job. I'm going to have to get serious.

[steve(thelil)]

You were up to 263? I can't even imagine you at that weight. How much did you weigh 5 years ago (when I last saw you)?

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by steve(thelil)

You were up to 263? I can't even imagine you at that weight. How much did you weigh 5 years ago (when I last saw you)?

Steve, when I first started at the Comptroller's office 12-14 years ago, I was probably between 165-175.

I am not sure what I weighed five years ago. But I weighed 244 in 2006 when I was first diagnosed with sleep apnea. I must have weighed in around 210-220 when you saw me five years ago.

My weight has continuously climbed since I quit serious running about 14 years ago.

It didn't help me at all when I bought into the "set point" theory of weight, which basically says that your body reaches a natural weight that we don't have much control over.

http://medweb.mit.edu/pdf/set_point_theory.pdf

I bought into this idea, and it was disasterous for me. I was always able to "manage" my weight through diet and exercise, but it was never easy, always a a struggle.

After stupidly buying into the "set point theory," I allowed myself to balloon up to 263, thinking that there was really nothing I could do about my weight.

For the record, I never stopped exercising. I have always walked on a regular basis, but I have never gotten back to the strenuous exercise I was doing in my early 40s.

My weight really started to skyrocket after I read Gina Kolata's book "Rethinking Thin," which was a defense of the set point theory and a rationalization of being fat.

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by Tom Storer

Rollhead, I salute you in your fine efforts.

For years I've been a couple of points under the "overweight" limit in that BMI thing, but recently I've gone just over. I am not naturally one who is drawn to strenuous exercise or sports of any kind, although for a long time I went to the gym two or three times a week. I gave that up a few months ago because I was bored and because it's expensive.

My ambition was to find some other means of burning calories, but being a lazy fuck and a slave to routine, I haven't. As a result my weight slowly but surely inches upward and the adjective "pot" could begin to be applied to my belly.

I know how to lose weight and keep it down: regular, moderate exercise and healthy eating without excess. On both scores my willpower is proving inadequate to the job. I'm going to have to get serious.

But I thought French men never got fat.

Maybe becoming a chain smoker might help?

[hornplayer]

Rollie: Good on You! Keep up the good work. It's not easy, but then nothing that is worthwhile was ever easy to accomplish.

Not only will you look better in your daughter's wedding pix, you'll feel better, too, and maybe even live long enough to dance at your granddaughter's wedding.

[Tom Storer]

Originally Posted by rollhead

But I thought French men never got fat.

Maybe becoming a chain smoker might help?

I'm only a faux Frenchman. Chain smoking would probably do the trick all right, but cigarettes are so expensive.

[Gordon B]

OECD data presented in the O'Neill study, are the percentages of the male population with a body-mass index of 30 or more (female obesity rates are similar):

Japan 2.8
France 9.8
Germany 14.4
Canada 17.0
U.K. 22.7
U.S. 31.1
Source:Mankiw's blog

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by Gordon B

OECD data presented in the O'Neill study, are the percentages of the male population with a body-mass index of 30 or more (female obesity rates are similar):

Japan 2.8
France 9.8
Germany 14.4
Canada 17.0
U.K. 22.7
U.S. 31.1
Source:Mankiw's blog

I wouldn't think that they'd be such a gap between Canada and the U.S.

Wonder why?

Interestingly, my daughter came back from China heavier than when she left last year. She just likes white rice, noodles and dumplings too much.

I think the Japanese consume great piles of white rice too. That stuff is bad for my waistline.... One reason why I have been able to drop 20 pounds is that I have avoided sugar and refined carbs like white bread and white rice.

For lunch, I had homemade chili over wild rice and quinoa. I walked four miles after lunch. For a snack I had a beer and some cheese and pistachios. Lots of carbs in the beer (a Stone IPA), but I refuse to give up good beer.

I think I will go out for a short swim, have dinner and start back on "Out Stealing Horses."

Hoping I burned more calories than I consumed today.

[Pete C]

It's not for everybody, but the sniffing diet has worked for me.

http://petercherches.blogspot.com/2007/10/dieting.html

[Uli]

[Gordon B]

It's been reported that dieters can lose up to five extra pounds by being newly respectful of others representing opposing political positions.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by Gordon B

It's been reported that dieters can lose up to five extra pounds by being newly respectful of others representing opposing political positions.

Not true. The vitriol is aerobic.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by Pete C

It's not for everybody, but the sniffing diet has worked for me.

http://petercherches.blogspot.com/2007/10/dieting.html

FWIW, I broke a long-standing addiction to excess licorice by sniffing my container of anise, whenever I felt a craving for licorice.
So, there is valididaty to Pete's suggestion.
Bakeries' smells are what draw potential customers, as well as how they display their wares.
Smell is a big part of why we crave some foods and not others.
But, actually eating the food in question is sometimes the least part of it's enjoyment.

[LennyH]

I got up to 190 pounds plus a few years back, which isn't a good weight for my lanky, 5'10" frame. I'm down to almost 160 now and will keep it there. Anything above that goes right on the belly.

3 or 4 days a week I eat nothing but a salad and some meat for lunch. The same for dinner sometimes. Fruit and nuts for breakfast during the week. These things along with portion control and exercise are all necessary to keep me where I am. The reality of being over 40.

I was using the treadmill a lot but my legs can't take the daily pounding. Dolan got me doing yoga several weeks ago and I like it enough that I actually want to do it every day. You can burn some serious calories and get in good shape doing power yoga.

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by Gordon B

It's been reported that dieters can lose up to five extra pounds by being newly respectful of others representing opposing political positions.

Gordie, with all due respect, I believe that opposing political positions -- such as those offered by Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, etc., and the majority of those registered as Republicans, is hazardous to the health of democracy, decency and opportunity for all.

This isn't parallel to "respecting" the views of Yankees fans if you are a Mets fan.

Indeed, I don't think it is ethical on my part to "respect" those points of view you have which are committed to destroying every aspect of a just and egalitarian society in exchange for a fairy tale vision of the benefits of a "winner take all society."

Unfortunately, the facts just aren't in your favor. If they were, Denmark wouldn't be the happiest country on earth.

While you may think that your brand of free market corporatism is simply just another point of view that deserves respect, I think it is hostile to the well being of the vast majority of Americans and, as such, deserves not a scintilla of respect.

When I was 19, I decided I was a liberal democrat, and constantly revisiting that position is a worthless exercise for me. I don't think a society that encourages the rich getting richer at the expense of 99 percent of the rest of the society is something that deserves any kind of consideration, much less any respect.

Call it "confirmation bias" but stupid ideas haven't gotten any more intelligent to me in the intervening 40 years.

If it makes you feel any better, be assured when GREG MANKIW dies and passes through the gates of hell on his way to the Ninth Circle -- that lowest ring, preserved for Popes, pederast priests and right wing economists -- I will raise a glass in his honor.

Sorry, but that's the best I can do.


Respectfully submitted,

Rollhead

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by LennyH

I got up to 190 pounds plus a few years back, which isn't a good weight for my lanky, 5'10" frame. I'm down to almost 160 now and will keep it there. Anything above that goes right on the belly.

3 or 4 days a week I eat nothing but a salad and some meat for lunch. The same for dinner sometimes. Fruit and nuts for breakfast during the week. These things along with portion control and exercise are all necessary to keep me where I am. The reality of being over 40.

I was using the treadmill a lot but my legs can't take the daily pounding. Dolan got me doing yoga several weeks ago and I like it enough that I actually want to do it every day. You can burn some serious calories and get in good shape doing power yoga.

Geez, Lenny, good for you. If I can make it down to 199... I will consider myself VERY lucky.

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by Tom Storer

I'm only a faux Frenchman. Chain smoking would probably do the trick all right, but cigarettes are so expensive.

Hey, Tom:

Was just listening on the radio to David Kessler, whose book "The End of Overeating" I just read, talk about how the French never eat while walking down the street, while in their cars, or in business meetings, like Americans do. Is this true?

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by patricia

FWIW, I broke a long-standing addiction to excess licorice by sniffing my container of anise, whenever I felt a craving for licorice.
So, there is valididaty to Pete's suggestion.
Bakeries' smells are what draw potential customers, as well as how they display their wares.
Smell is a big part of why we crave some foods and not others.
But, actually eating the food in question is sometimes the least part of it's enjoyment.

If you are addicted to licorice, i would suggest you try these, which have no sugar:




https://www.licoriceinternational.co...2&idCategory=6

[clinthopson]

In the words of Eddie Harris. . .

[patricia]

Originally Posted by rollhead

If you are addicted to licorice, i would suggest you try these, which have no sugar:




https://www.licoriceinternational.co...2&idCategory=6

Thank you Jeff. It wasn't so much that the sugar in licorice was the problem. It was that they were almost as addictive as cigarettes, to me. I felt that I didn't want to be dependant on anything to the point that I would have to have it every day.
I actually tapered off with licorice allsorts, which took me about two months, eliminating the plain licorice ones, then the bead one, etc.
The last to go were the three-layer ones.
But, now I'm clean.

[rollhead]

I bought three tins of the stuff for $6.50 each. But after I tasted one of them, I realized that one tin was going to be enough to last me for a loonnnggg time. It's strong stuff.

[Tom Storer]

Originally Posted by rollhead

Hey, Tom:

Was just listening on the radio to David Kessler, whose book "The End of Overeating" I just read, talk about how the French never eat while walking down the street, while in their cars, or in business meetings, like Americans do. Is this true?

• Eating in the street--you do see it, more often among younger people, but it's relatively rare. Most people consider it a last resort, when you absolutely have no time to eat lunch and are late to an important meeting so you have to scarf something down as you race through the street.
• Eating in the car--no. Why would you eat in the car? Children, of course, want to do this, but most parents frown on it. And there's no accounting for teenagers. But European cars don't have cup holders (or if they do, no one knows what they're for).
• Eating in business meetings--never. Never ever. Twice, I think, I've seen managers attempt to schedule meetings at lunchtime, with the understanding that one would eat during the meeting. Quickest way to be seen as a complete asshole by one's underlings. At those meetings, no one but the manager ate lunch during the meeting. Everyone else left for lunch afterwards. (The French way, if for example a customer or partner comes in for a meeting, is to invite them to lunch separately from any meetings.)

Underlying all this is the fact that the French eat regular meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and they sit down for them and eat real food. Well, most French people, anyway.

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by Tom Storer

• Eating in the street--you do see it, more often among younger people, but it's relatively rare. Most people consider it a last resort, when you absolutely have no time to eat lunch and are late to an important meeting so you have to scarf something down as you race through the street.
• Eating in the car--no. Why would you eat in the car? Children, of course, want to do this, but most parents frown on it. And there's no accounting for teenagers. But European cars don't have cup holders (or if they do, no one knows what they're for).
• Eating in business meetings--never. Never ever. Twice, I think, I've seen managers attempt to schedule meetings at lunchtime, with the understanding that one would eat during the meeting. Quickest way to be seen as a complete asshole by one's underlings. At those meetings, no one but the manager ate lunch during the meeting. Everyone else left for lunch afterwards. (The French way, if for example a customer or partner comes in for a meeting, is to invite them to lunch separately from any meetings.)

Underlying all this is the fact that the French eat regular meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and they sit down for them and eat real food. Well, most French people, anyway.

Okay -- two more questions for now:

Kessler also claims that the French don't snack between meals.

I find this troubling -- more so than Kessler's claim that he French sit down to eat community meals three times a day -- because eating 5-6 "small" meals/snacks daily has helped me lose weight (up til now, at least).

Also -- When you have lunch in Paris, do you "luncheon," i.e., have a community meal with your co-workers or friends?

My family usually just has one meal -- dinner -- together. Sometimes on the weekends, we will have breakfast and lunch together. But, with two kids (one 19 and 21) in the house, who usually sleep VERY late on the weekends, that is hard.