Daddy needs a new stereo

Well, I’m feeling pretty durn good today. Got up early this morning and weighed and I’m now at 295.2 pounds. Yeah! I think the plateau I’ve been on for the last two months might be breaking.

At work someone started a “Biggest Loser” competition. It was $25 to get in on it and the winner gets the money pot. C’mon baby! Daddy needs a new stereo! On my first weigh in since the initial one two weeks ago, I’ve lost 6 pounds according to the company scale (which weighs heavy by the way…see my earlier blogs about that).

I’ve been consistently exercising now for over 3 weeks. I can’t tell you how much better I feel – and how much stronger. I’m weight lifting 3 times a week and using the elliptical 2 times a week for 20 minutes. I hope to build up to 30 minutes and beyond soon.

I’ve also been trying to cut calories a little more. I was staying at 2,500 calories a day, but over the last couple of days, I’ve cut down to 2,000 and under a little.

This lifestyle is getting easier and easier to live with.

Slow as molasses

I’ve got to get back into the habit of blogging again.

I’m a little frustrated right now. My weight has stayed the same for almost two months now. I fluctuate between 296 and 300lbs. I don’t know what’s up.

I am exercising daily (well, consistently for the last 2 weeks anyway). Three mornings a week I lift weights and 2 mornings a week I work out on the elliptical machine. I am still keeping my calories at around 2,500 a day which should be enough to lose at least a pound a week. I’ve got to be slipping up somewhere. Maybe I need to lower calories even more? Egads!

I did find this website http://www.wwfamilyforum.com/ which is pretty encouraging. It’s a Weight Watcher’s site.

I do feel stronger than I have in a while though. There is just no way though that I will reach my 100 pound goal this summer. That is disappointing but at least I’m trying.

So, I am super frustrated right now, but hoping I'll be able to break the pound barrier again soon. Here's to trying.

Hole number 4

My son gave me a belt last year that I couldn't even put on when I first tried to wear it. This morning I made it to hole number 4 without turning blue in the face. Yeah!

I'm still losing about a pound a week, but the inches are starting to disappear. My best guess is that it's due to the weight lifting I've been doing.

Is there a plastic surgeon in the house?

Well, the old mug is getting a little thinner. Now I'm getting that wonderful (note sarcasm in my voice) floppy neck skin hanging down. Geez I hope it snaps back into place soon! If not, I'm heading for the plastic surgeon.

XXX

Wore my first 2x shirt yesterday! Unbelievable! I am now wearing clothes that have been hanging in my close unworn for years. I can’t tell you how good that feels.

Last night me and the missus went out to celebrate Valentine’s Day at a restaurant here in Salem called the Eola Inn. It was recommended by a coworker.

Our first sign that we should have turned around and gone to another restaurant was the front door. It was a solid door, like a bar. We went in anyway and it didn’t seem too bad at first. The owner sat us at a table in the middle of the room and we placed our order. I noticed that the waitresses all looked pretty rough around the edges (to be nice). The décor, upon closer inspection, was a cross between a double wide and a diner. We ordered some seafood. The waitress came back with our sald after what seemed like hours. They were horrible looking. At first I thought it was the lighting, but sure enough it was brown with withered tomatoes and a small plastic cup of runny blue cheese dressing. Ick! After shoving that aside, we waited a full 50 minutes for the main entrée to come out before giving up and walking out.

By that time it was almost 9:00 so we decided to give up and stopped in at a Safeway grocery store on the way home, picked up a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers and went home and watched TV.

Happy Valentines’ Day!

I broke the pound barrier

Sweet Saturday morning...I weighed this morning and I was at 299.8 pounds. Hallelujah! I broke the 300 pound barrier! Drop the confetti! Bring on the marching bands! Cue the orchestra!

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I just want to say how pleased I am to have reached this tiny goal. If my calculations are correct, I'm losing less than a pound a week. What's with that? On the one hand, I'm losing verrrrryyyyy slowly, which is the way "they" say is the best way to lose weight. On the other hand, this is excruciatingly slow.

So with that said...only 74* more pounds to go until July 9th. Do you think I'll make it?


*I originally weighed in at 319 lbs at the start of this whole blog back in July of last year. I later found out I was actually at 325lbs, give or take a pound due to a faulty scale. A doctor visit confirmed it. The highest weight I was at was 345lbs three years ago.

Magic pills and lube jobs

In the news today is the news of the approval of the new “fat” pill. The FDA's joint Nonprescription Drugs and Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 11 to 3 to recommend that the regulatory body OK Orlistat 60 mg capsules for over-the-counter use in the U.S. Too bad some of the side effects include oily stools (yuch!) and other unpleasantries. Apparently as soon as you stop taking the pill, the weight loss stops.

I remember taking Fen-fen for awhile back in the 90s until researchers found out it had some nasty side effects. I wonder what we’ll hear about this one down the road?

I think I’ll just stick to the old tried and true method of cutting calories, keeping a food diary and exercise. With that said, my weight loss is going just wack. I weigh every day, because it keeps me motivated, but man, it’s amazing how much it fluctuates. It is taking me forever to lose it seems, but I think that’s because I’m losing on average a pound of week. On Friday I was down to 301. Yesterday it was 307 and this morning it was 306.

So, here’s to sticking to my food plan and hoping that the plateaus will start fading a little faster. I think I’ll just pass on the lube job.

Cat boxes and high fives

I just got back from a men's retreat that I went to with my friend, Von. Nothing there really on the low fat or low calorie side of things, still I did well with my food choices and portions. Way to go Randy [cue slow motion camera as I high five myself]!

It's funny where inspiration can hit you. One of my least favorite jobs in the world has to be cleaning out cat's boxes. I cleaned the boxes (yes, boxes...we have 4 cats) the other day, and as I picked up a 20 pound jug of cat sand I thought to myself, "you know, over the last 3 years, I have lost the equivalent weight of two of these cat sand containers. And they were heavy! I can't imagine carrying around that kind of weight...but I did.

As of Friday, I was 1 and a half pounds away from being under 300 pounds (again). It will be good to get back to weight lifting and being able to have control over the food I eat again after this last retreat. I look at recent photos of myself, but I don't seem to have changed much at all, but I know I'm losing the pounds somewhere.

Tighten Up (the old seatbelt, baby!)

Went down to Texas for the Christmas holidays to visit the kids. Oh boy. Airplane time. Seat belt extension time? Imagine my relief when I got the seat belt on without any problems. Even had a half inch or so to go!

Weight has been coming off unbelievably slow. I'm lifting weights 3 days a week, but no cardio for now. Wife wants to walk after work. It's kind of hard with all the danged old Oregon rain and cold, but I guess I'll give it a whirl.

Christmas goodies were kept at bay. For some reason I retained a lot of water while I was in the Lone Star State. I weighed when I got home and I was back up to 312. Gadzooks! Apparently it's water weight, as it has been dropping every day back to my pre-Christmas level. I did give in to some County Line ribs while I was there. These are the best ribs in the world and the BBQ sauce is out of this world!

I'm eating "Healthy Choice" meals for lunch now. Predictable calories and not bad taste and not bad on the wallet.

Onward through the fog.

I'm Bad - I'm Nationwide

Went to the doctor today to get a flu shot. "Can we weigh you today?" "Sure," I said. I climbed up on the scale after shedding my shoes. "I think I know where you were at the last time you were here." The nurse fiddled with the little slider weight for a few seconds. She kept sliding it back down the scale and looked at me like "what the?" "You've lost a lot of weight!" Dang straight, I thought.

I weighed at home this morning before my shower. The scale read "302.6 pounds." Maybe the old plateau is starting to ease off. I hope so.

Since 2003, I've lost a total of a little over 40lbs. Slow going, but it's coming off for good.

5 Measly Pounds

I’m still here.

I read yesterday in the paper that some journal reported that people who check their weight every day on the scale lose more weight than people who don’t. Good thing I am obsessive compulsive. I’m checking it daily and watching it go up and down like a rubber ball.

I’m pretty much hovering around 305 pounds. Last time this plateau kind of thing happened was during the summer when I stayed at 325 pounds for weeks.

Five measly little pounds. Five more pounds and I can kiss the 300’s goodbye.

I Survived Thanksgiving

Well, I made it through the official pig-out day of the year, without pigging out.

Breakfast: The following is our traditional Thanksgiving breakfast. I updated it this year using low calorie choices.

2 eggs
3 pieces of turkey bacon
hashbrowns (no oil)
cinamon roll (icing used Splenda instead of sugar)
coffee

Thanksgiving dinner:
Turkey (white meat)
small helping of mashed potatoes
yellow squash
small amount of dressing
cranberries
green beans
gravy (just a smidge)
roll
salad
thin slice of pumpkin pie and berry cobbler with whipped cream for dessert

That was the last meal of the day.

Late night snack: 6 triskits crackers, slice of swiss cheese.

Onward through the fog!

Lord, I Love Rings

Most people think that Eve gave Adam a bite of an apple when the original sin was first committed. I challenge you to find the word apple anywhere in Genesis.

I think it was an onion ring. Onion rings are of the devil and fried in the fires of hell itself! Delightfully crispy and greasy, the heavenly bouquet of freshly fried onion rings verily wafts up my nostrils and straight to the "sin" center of my brain when I am within sniffing range of a Burger King!

I ordered a Veggie Burger at Burger King on the way to band rehearsal last night. As I was placing my order through the little speaker outside, I heard another voice come out of my mouth. “I’d like to order a BK Veggie Burger and LARGE ONION RINGS.” It was one of Satan’s demons talking. He also made me drive to the takeout window and greedily grab the bag as the startled cashier handed it to me.

Waves of guilt swept over me. Then a little demon appeared on my left shoulder and said, “Well really, how many calories can a large order of onion rings have? Just a few onion rings won’t hurt you. And besides, think how good you’ve been lately. You deserve it!” A little angel who had floated down from heaven and landed on my other shoulder said, “Try somewhere in the range of 500 calories. Don’t do it Randy. You know how dirty you’ll feel if you give in to this temptation.”

I was soon consumed with a ravaging desire to eat the onion rings. I NEEDED these onion rings. I wanted these onion rings. One pack of onion rings wasn’t going to be the end of the world! Just this one time wasn’t going to hurt. Then the takeout demon from hell pried open my mouth and force fed me the onion rings. One, two, three onion rings slid down my throat like some kind of wildly evil (and slippery) amusement park ride.

Then it was over. Everything was quiet. Pleasure turned into guilt. I had been defeated by a bag of fried vegetables.

So I had a little stumble. Nothing to get real upset about. Next time just don’t listen to that little guy with the pointy tail, OK?

Less and less of me

Thanks to all the folks who send in their encouragement to me on a daily basis. I appreciate it.

Things are looking up. I’m down to 303.8 pounds (the “old” scale would read 297.8) since the last post. Clothes I haven’t been able to get into in ages are starting to fit. It’s very encouraging and keeps me motivated.

The old face is starting to look a little thinner. I started wearing a belt again since some of my pants started falling down in public. I’m eating probably half of what I was eating before I changed my eating habits. I’m amazed when I think back to what I could put away at a meal.

Dawn and I have been sharing most meals out. We went to a Mexican restaurant yesterday after church and split the “Grande.” Grande is an understatement. That baby was huge. We split a couple of enchiladas and the beans and chips and stayed away from the rice for the most part. I’m not really that fond of Mexican rice to begin with. The worst (most calorific) part of the meal was the Chimichanga. A deep fried, bean, chicken and cheese delight with sour cream and guacamole. We just kind of nibbled at that one.

And so it goes. I’m eating sensibly. I’m not depriving myself and I’m no longer stuffing myself silly. I started working out on the cross trainer at the gym last week. Seems to be much easier on my knees. I think I can keep that one up.

Thanks again to everyone who has provided me with some much needed encouragement.

Houston...we have a problem.

Houston…we have a problem.

My wife and I went to Target over the weekend to get some stuff for our new house. While we were there, I found a weight scale that I really, really wanted. I have had some suspicions that the weight scale at work that I weigh on was off.

The scale is made by Health-O-Meter, so it was a good one. I took it home, put in the batteries and weighed. The total weight it gave me was a good 7 pounds off from the scale at work – and it wasn’t in my favor! Sucks big time.

This means I am now at 308 instead of under 300 as I announced. Very disappointing, but will not slow me down. I have still lost the same amount of weight, I'm just not under 300 like I thought. But hey, it sure felt good thinking I was under 300, so I’ve got to get back to that feeling!

On the menu today:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with a tablespoon of peanut butter and cinnamon.

Midmorning snack: 6 triskets and an apple

Lunch: leftovers from last night- Italian sausage, zucchini, tomatoes and low carb soy pasta.

Afternoon snack: yogurt

Dinner: ? I have to rehearse with my band tonight so it will probably be a veggie burger at Burger King. Those things are pretty durn good.

I broke the 300 pound barrier

Lord have mercy! I broke the 300lb barrier. I weighed in yesterday at 297 lbs. I don't know what to do. I can't celebrate with food. I'm still too damned heavy to jump up and down. I guess I'll just give myself a high five and leave it at that.

I can't believe I am losing weight. It's slow, but I'm doing it. I'm not starving myself. I am eating smaller portions and I really think that splitting my food into six small meals is the trick. I went to dinner tonight with my wife and my friend " the Vonster" at the Olive Garden. I ordered pizza, ate half of it and boxed the rest. I also had a bowl of soup. I'll still lose weight, because I'm keeping my calories and portions under control.

Here was the menu for the day:

Breakfast: bowl of oatmeal with 1 teaspoon of peanut butter
Snack: 4 Triskets
Lunch: 2 lean lunch meat sandwiches on Orowheat "light" bread.
Snack: Yogurt, apple
Dinner: 3 pieces of pizza and soup.

I looked back through an old food diary. In July of 2003 I weighed 340 lbs. So really, I've lost over 40 pounds in 2 years and have kept it off. That's equal to the weight of a couple large turkeys and a pound of hamburger. That's a lot of fat!

This day has been a long time coming. Only 80 more pounds to lose by July 9, 2006!

Are you losing weight?

Someone came up to my desk last week and said, "are you losing weight?" I could barely contain myself. "Yes, I'm losing weight and thank you so much for noticing!" That's the second person within about a week who has commented on my weight loss. This is good.

I weighed myself that same afternoon and found that I had gone from 307 to 303. Just a few pounds shy of ridding that awful "300 pound" tag forever. There will be some celebrating when I break throught that barrier.

The desire for comforting myself with food seems to be fading away. Eating 6 small meals a day seems to be doing the trick. I'm never starving and I don't feel like I'm missing out on something. My wife Dawn and I went to Red Robin restaurant on Friday and split a burger and fries. I ate maybe 4 french fries. A friend and I went out to eat last night. He wanted to go to a new chinese buffet that just opened. I had egg drop soup and some different shrimp dishes. No rice - I think it was a nice lo-cal dinner without feeling the need to pig out.

I have lost 16 pounds since July 9, or just over a pound a week. Since the beginning of this year I've lost over 20 pounds. Since we're getting closer to Thanksgiving, I like to compare those pounds to a large turkey. That's a lot of fat.

Sweet Comfort

Today was one of those days when I needed a little comfort. Funny, it's been a long time since I felt I needed to eat something to feel better. But today was one of those days. It's not like I went hog wild overboard or anything. I just had a craving for onion rings. Burger King onion rings if you really have to know.

Maybe it's because I was just so tired today. Feeling a little burned out. Feeling all of the 31-plus years that I've been a graphic artist/designer. Bored. Disgusted. Maybe it's because I went to the gym for the first time in almost a week to do a little weight lifting. I weighed in at 307 pounds. That's one more pound than last week. It must be water weight. Damned water. I don't even drink the stuff. I'm more of a diet Coke fan myself.

Tonight, the missus and I went to Red Robin to have split a burger. We split the watchamacallit burger with pineapple. Dee-lish. The kitchen split the burger for us and gave us each a little pile of fries. I cleaned out the basket.

So, I've been a little bit of a stinker today. Onion rings and fries. It's not the end of the world, but I'm not speeding toward my goal of 100 pounds by July 9, 2006 either.

Tomorrow's another day right? Riiighht.

Would you like a table or booth?

My wife and I went out to eat tonight. I'm usually asked whether I'd like a booth or a table. I prefer a table since booths are typically so small (or is it I'm so large?) that by the time I've lodged myself between the table and seat all feeling in my body is cut off from the diaphragm down. Then there is the problem of actually getting the fork of food into my mouth from the plate without depositing half of it on my shirt. Normal weight people don't go through these gastric calisthenics.

I lifted weights after work today. I weighed and I was back up to 312 lbs. I knew I shouldn't have weighed so close to the last time I weighed. It's only a 3 pound difference - and probably water weight at that - but it is still such a downer. This whole weight loss thing is going way too slow. My knee is feeling a little better, so maybe I'll be able to add walking back into my health regime soon.

Last Saturday Dawn and I went to the Octoberfest celebration in Mt. Angel. I went with the primary goal of munching on something really unhealthy. I managed to eat a sausage on a bun with sour kraut, Marionberry pie with ice cream and fried mushrooms. Sounds awful doesn't it? It wasn't. It was fantastic. So I did it and then I was done. I didn't beat myself up, and I didn't fall any further off the diet straight and narrow.

So there you go. I've been doing pretty well with food intake (other than at the Octoberfest) despite the fact that our lives have been uprooted with the move into our new house. Time to step up the old fat burning machine. July 9, 2006 is just around the corner.

Progress at last

It's been quite a hectic time since my last entry in August. We have moved into our new house - the first house of our own after 31 years of marriage. Quite the deal. I have stayed the course with my food "plan." I say plan, but really all it amounts to is staying under 2300 calories a day, eating complex carbs, more fruit and eating two snacks (one at midmorning and one midafternoon). I lifted weights after work today. I weighed myself after I finished - 309.2 lbs. I'm down 10 pounds in a little over 2 months. Just doing the math in my head...I've got about 10 months to lose 90 pounds to reach my goal of 100 pounds in one year (July 9, 2006). After weeks of being at a plateau with my weight, the pounds seem to be dropping again. Thank the Lord! It's an encouraging shot in the arm. So, I've got to pick up the pace a little in the excercise department. My knee is giving me some trouble. I hurt some ligaments last year during a move. It hasn't been the same since and that's frustrating. I'm determined though to get past it and get on with the weight loss. "Only" 90 pounds to go!