New Years Resolution: (Continue) To Lose Weight

Well it is that time of year for resolutions. We all know the number one resolution that is made this time of year: Lose Weight. The holiday season (and all the good eating) is probably directly related to weight loss being the number one resolution. It probably has a major hand in the number two resolution we all make: do better on our finances (we often overspend at the end of the year as well as over eat).

Well, I am happy to confess that I have already got a head start on the resolution. I've been working semi-aggressively on weight loss since October 15th. I've known I've needed to lose weight since I started putting on the weight after I got married a little more than 4 years ago. You can say it started with "sympathy weight" when Jen was pregnant just after we wed. Or you could say I stopped caring about being "eligibly thin." Or it could have been the stress of having to provide for 1 1/2 extra mouths already, and having to work that much harder to bring in the bucks -- which resulted in stress weight gain. (I'm a stress-eater, not a faster).

In any case I went from about 222 lbs to 285.2 lbs in those four years. Now 222 lbs is moderately overweight for my height, but I naturally have some more fat on me, and I did have a fair bit of muscle. So I was probably only about 15-20 lbs overweight, but I went to 80 lbs overweight, which threw me into the wonderful-sounding category of: obesity!

Well, in 2.5 months I have finally started to fight back. It isn't a fast weight-loss by "The Biggest Loser" standards, but it did take 4 years to put on the weight, and if it takes almost a year to take it off, I'll be happy still.

How Much Are We Talking Here?

Okay, so I bet you are saying: "Come on, tell me how much you lost." Here are the stats:

Days on Diet: 78 (Starting Oct.15th)
Starting Weight: 285.2 lbs
Current Weight: 270.0 lbs
Total Weight Loss: 15.2 lbs
(FWIW, my high on the diet [a few days after starting] was 285.8, so I lost another 0.6 lbs if you count that.)
Average Daily Loss: .19 lbs
Average Weekly Loss: 1.36 lbs
Average Monthly: 5.84 lbs

Here is a screen capture of the graph I have made. I don't weigh myself everyday, but I do end up weighing about 4 times a week. (click it to enlarge it).



As you can see, there is a sharp jump in weight at and around Christmas. I wasn't on a diet on Christmas day, nor the day before, nor the day after. Though, I think the majority of the weight gained was water weight because of how fast it went on and off.

I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to get back down to pre-Christmas levels (14.6 lbs lost) in time for the new year, but I just made it (and passed it) today.

Oh, and the line on the graph is a "best fit line." It is a statistical measure that is sort-of like the average, but takes better account of the points that fall far from the norm. If you know a bit about stats, you can appreciate it. But as you can see, it is not far off from the average anyway (the slope of the line [-.2048] is what is important the "b" value is weird because Excel is factoring in a date in a numerical form. So ignore the 8420.8 and concentrate on the slope). BTW, if you use the slope on the "best fit line," you get a monthly average of 6.14 lbs lost.

Method to the Madness

Another question you may be interested in is how I did it. (I figure if you are still reading by now, you are at least mildly interested.)

Well, the short answer it is the same answer we could all expect to hear: I ate less and moved more. But here is a brief explanation of the methods . . . after I first admit that because I work from home and own a business that has a slow season beginning in October, I could "afford" time to concentrate on this. Not to say I couldn't do this in the busy season, and I believe I will be able to continue it in June.

But, it did take some time and concentration to break habits and work on it. For the first couple weeks it felt like a part-time job. I think this was the third year I made the excuse/ promise to myself that I was putting off dieting until the slow season and I would do it then. This year I finally came through.

Basic Outline:

1. 5 meals a day instead of 3
2. No eating within 3 hours of sleep
3. A goal of 2200 calories a day
4. Exercise 4 times a week
5. Saving money by not eating out
6. Ample supply of fruit and veggies for "fibbing."

1) 5 Meals a day: I would love to have the citations for you, but I am sure of the facts I remember (I just can't find the source). Smaller, more frequent meals are a part of many diet plans. The reason (from my research) is that it maintains your body's metabolism.

The citation I really want states that within a few hours of not eating, your body goes into fast mode and your metabolism slows down. Basically it doesn't know if it will eat again, so it conserves. That is easy to find documentation on, but what you may not have heard (I hadn't), is that this fasting mode starts after 4 hours of eating for men and after 3 hours for women.

I came up with 3 hour intervals to make it safe. I go to bed late and wake up late by most people's standards (it helps me when I have late weddings), so my bed time is an 8-hour period between midnight and 9 a.m. So my "feedings" are at (in military time): 09:00, 12:00. 15:00, 18:00, and 21:00 (9 p.m.).

If you do any research it will probably tell you that breakfast is crucial. It gets you out of fast mode (it breaks the fast).

2) No eating within 3 hours of bedtime. Because I fall asleep around midnight, and my last meal is at 9 p.m., this is accomplished. This was one of my hardest habits to form. I used to eat at 6 or 7 p.m., then I was fine, but by 11:30 p.m. I was starving. I had to eat or else my hunger would keep me up. The result was a large meal (I was starving) 30 minutes before sleep.

I slept like a baby with such a full stomach, but when you eat and then sleep right away, your body ends up storing most of what you at as fat (at least the experts say so).

3) A goal of 2200 calories a day. This is where the rubber hits the road. I guestimate I was eating anywhere from 3500 to 5000 calories a day (depending on the day). I could easily keep that amount up and eat 5 meals a day and not eat before bed. The hard part is combining that with less calories.

I broke it up like this: the first 4 meals were 400 calories each = 1600 calories. The last meal (the 9 p.m. before bed one) was 600 calories. I was having such a hard time getting to bed after not eating for 3 or more hours, that I had to change something. I made the last meal a larger one, and it did the trick. I can ignore hunger pains when I am about and doing daily tasks, but I needed the extra filling in my stomach to not have (at least severe) hunger pains when I tried to sleep.

So what do I eat? I love these nutisystem ads that say "you can lose weight eating pizza, hamburgers, even brownies." No duh! You just have to limit the intake. On a typical day I'll have a bowl of cereal (about 400 calories worth), then a pizza, then a pot pie, then some chicken fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli, then a 400 calorie portion of what is for dinner, then either left-overs, or maybe some sweet and sour chicken.

I discovered that the little Banquet meals and their competitors are only $1 each and are an average of 360 calories per meal. Now, I know that these meals are not the best on sodium, so I try to limit them to 1-2 per day, but the main thing is that they are effective for me! Way effective. Plus some of them have low sodium versions, and I try to get those when possible. In the end I figure losing 50 lbs is preferable to not losing any and just lowering my sodium intake (when at the most I am maintaining my previous intake, but most likely I am actually still lowering it compared to my previous levels).

The key is that these meals are 1) pre-portioned, 2) very tasty, 3) Convenient (I can keep to my program easily), and 4) Varied! I don't get tired of the same diet food. These are the keys to the weight watchers or nutrisystem meals. Only I am only paying about $5 a day at the most (if I ate all meals as such, but I don't, it is only 2-3 meals). With the cereal at breakfast, and Jen's cooking to deal with dinner and leftovers covering many of the meals, I probably only spend about $3.80 or so on my daily meals.

A little more on the Varied aspect of these, here are some of the meals I have settled on: Sweet & Sour Chicken w/ Eggroll, Ham-fried Rice with Egg and Chicken & Eggroll, Beef Enchiladas with Rice, Pot pies (Chicken, Beef, & Turkey), Swedish Meet balls, Chicken & Veggie Pasta Casserole, Lean Pockets (many varieties), Microwave Pizza (only 390 calories), Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo with Broccoli (that doesn't last long around here), Chicken Corn Chowder, Wild Rice & Chicken Soup. There are about twice that in total that I buy, but I like the aforementioned the most. Combine that with dinner and left overs, and I never get tired of food.

4) Exercise 4 times a week. It has been an actual average of 3 times a week, but I try for 4. I walk fast (3.4 mph) for 45 minutes while I watch a 1 hour crime drama off my DVR (when you fast-forward commercials they are about 45 minutes). Then I lift weights for about 1 hour. I only get in 5 different lifting exercises (at 3 sets of repetitions each), when the busy season comes I might need to lift faster.

I don't jog or run, but I walk about as fast as I could without jogging. The reason is I hate aerobic exercise. I hate it. If I walk fast enough to burn, but slow enough (by not jogging) to not be aggressively working out, then I can "enjoy" it by forgetting I am doing it. Any faster and I'd have to work and concentrate and I would not enjoy the show (which is what helps me forget what I am doing).

As for the lifting, it is old-hat to me. I like to lift, and I can do alternating dumbbell curls at 3 sets with the following weight/ reps: 40 lbs/10 reps; 45 lbs/ 9reps; 50 lbs/ 7 reps. For you that don't know what alternation curls are, you put a 40 lbs dumbbell in each hand and curl it up to you using your biceps. So I end with a combined weight of 100 lbs.

Not as good as I have ever been, but not bad.

Exercise doesn't make you lose weight as drastically as dieting will, but it helps, and my main goal is to change my body. I want a fit, muscular one, not just a flabby-skinned lighter one. And FWIW, I have probably lost more than 15 lbs of fat, because I have most likely gained muscle.

5) Save Money By not Eating Out. I save money too! But it is a simple (and difficult) habit to break. When summer comes and I am traveling a lot more, I'll have to brown bag it. I used to make more sandwiches for my meals at the beginning of the diet -- that practice will return.

By not hitting fast foods, as well as consuming as much volume -- this is where I think my sodium intake has actually decreased.

6) Ample supply of fruit and veggies for "fibbing." I don't have fruit and veggies as part of my regular, planned diet. Instead they are my built-in "fibbing" option. Needless to say, I fib a fair amount. But that is a good thing, I figure. Pound-for-pound these natural foods give me less calories, more vitamins and minerals, and more "filling" than prepared foods.

We all need some fibbing built in. We have fluctuating calorie needs every day. This allows for a safe "pressure release" that is better than fibbing with ice cream or doughnuts, or a hamburger when I am starved beyond my planned "budgeted" calories. If you have problems with fibbing, I recommend this. I didn't read it anywhere, but I gravitated toward it when I "just had to" eat more some days.

Conclusion

Well, that is my diet. I am on my way to weighing around 235 lbs for my birthday (June 5th). I was originally on track to be closer to 225 (my wedding weight) by then, but my weight loss was faster the first couple of weeks, then it normalized to what it is now. Still, I think that although my wedding weight would have been a great present to myself, a total weight loss of about 50 lbs will be an okay prize as well.

Final thoughts: This will take time. I am very excited that I have found a plan that is steady and that I am not literally "killing" myself to follow, I can sustain this. I may not loose 10+ lbs a week like those on "The Biggest Loser," but I am steady and my body will adjust better for that.

I found a great article (click the link if you want) on weight loss that talks about the speed of weight loss. It is a bit discouraging as to how many people stay on diets, but it is food for thought. I am determined to be one who you see two years later at a lower weight. Plus I have so much to lose, that it should not be too hard to stay below 270.

Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year.

Stephen