Cost of Treating Obesity Soars

Yes it does.

72 Pounds

My weightloss is finally picking up again after a long dormant stage. My trip to Texas and Arizona sort of put me off my weightloss for a little while. Didn't gain...but didn't lose. Here's to losing!

Top snacks consumed by children under 6:

I thought this was an interesting list. My top snacks when I was 6? Probably ice cream followed by chocolate peanut clusters.

Top snacks consumed by children under 6:

	In 1987	In 2007
1.	Cookies	Fruit
2.	Fruit	Cookies
3.	Milk	Milk
4.	Juice	Crackers
5.	Candy	Juice
6.	Carbonated soft drinks	Popcorn
7.	Ice cream	Candy
8.	Crackers	Ice cream
9.	Cake	Chips
10.	Chips	Fruit rolls/bars/pieces

Change of taste

The five foods/beverages that have increased the most in the snack diet of young children today compared with young children 20 years ago:

1. Fruit rolls/bars/pieces
2. Yogurt
3. Crackers
4. Bars
5. Bottled water

The five foods/beverages that have decreased the most in the snack diet of young children today compared with young children 20 years ago:

1. Carbonated soft drinks
2. Ice cream
3. Candy
4. Cake
5. Fruit juice

Source: NPD Group

Mississippi Gains

I just read that Mississippi is at the top of the list of the most obese states in the U.S. at 32.5%. Eight of the 10 states with the highest rates of obesity are in the South.

I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure that one out. All of my ex-favorite foods are all southern dishes and they are all fattening: Chicken fried steak, Tex-Mex, hush puppies.

Now I'm getting hungry.

Staying Focused For The Long Haul

I thought this was a great blog post by a lady by the name of Lynn Haraldson-Bering. Here is an excerpt from an entry titled, "Staying focused for the long haul."

I had so many feelings floating around in my head when I weighed 300 pounds – inadequacy, anger, and overall helplessness. I vacillated for months between accepting my body as it was and choosing to lose weight. I journaled tough questions: How did I feel about my body. How much did I love myself? Was I worth changing for? It was difficult and often uncomfortable work, I won’t lie, but once I was honest with myself and became better acquainted with the emotions that bothered me most, I was ready to lose weight.

Read it here.

1 more pound

One more pound and I'll hit a total of 70lbs lost since January 21. That's quite a milestone for me. The ability to walk further and move around easier is really pretty noticeable to me. It gives me the motivation to keep going to reach my goal weight (which is a ways off yet).

I see overweight people on the street and in stores and I just want to grab them and tell them that there is a way to take it off. It's not easy but it can be done and that they will feel so much better physically and mentally. Literally a weight off their minds.

No Extensions

I recently made a trip to my home state of Texas with my wife to visit our adult children. The last time I did this I needed a seat belt extension in order to wear one during takeoff and touchdown. Not so this time!

It was so weird not to have to ask for one and still have plenty of belt left over. Also, I was able to put the tray down from the seat in front of me without it resting on my chest. Ha! This is when it totally hit me how much weight I've lost

Alabama Slammer

Ingredients

1 packet Medifast French Vanilla shake

1-2 tablespoons sugar-free amaretto syrup

1-2 tablespoons sugar-free peach syrup

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup ice

Method

Pour ingredients in blender and mix until smooth.

64

Weigh in this morning: 64lbs lost.

Lean and green BBQ

Gotta hankerin for a BBQ...the "Lean and Green BBQ." Medifast's "Take Shape For Life" program features 5 Medifast meals and one "lean and green" meal. Nobody ever said it couldn't include BBQ, so that's what I'm doing a lot of this summer. My favorite summertime lean and green?

6 ounces of BBQ chicken breast
Green salad
1 cup of grilled zuchini

Make a dry rub out of onion, garlic and chili powders and rub on the raw chicken breast. Grill until done. Slice zuchini, brush with olive oil and grill until just tender.

62 Pounds

And the weight keeps coming off! 62 lbs lost since January 21. Yes, super and duper!

60 pounds

60 lbs. Sounds like a lot of weight when I say it out loud. It is a lot of weight. I like to use my 20lb cat sand container analogy. When I buy cat sand for our 4 cats (!), I buy it in 20lb containers. Pick up a 20lb cat sand container sometime and feel the weight of it. Now imagine carrying 3 of those around with you all day. Walking across the parking lot. Climbing stairs. Getting dressed.

I say, goodbye to 60lbs. May I never see you again.

257 and holding

I was down to 256lbs a few days ago, but I'm now holding at 257. Cmon weight! What's the deal? It couldn't be that little bit of wine I had over the last couple of days could it? Ugh.

Obesity reaches down to youngest years

Nationwide, about 17 percent of U.S. children are overweight. American teens have higher rates of obesity than their peers in 14 other industrialized countries. The culprits are no surprise: fast food, snacks and sugary sodas. U.S. children also tend to lead sedentary lifestyles, spending hours in front of a TV or computer screen.

Good article here.

250s, meet Randy. Randy, meet your 250s

I weighed in this morning and the scale said 257lbs! That's 57lbs since I started my program!

Shout hallelujah and pass the nutrition bar.

Weight off my mind video

I put together a video that I uploaded to YouTube over the weekend. It's short and gives a little synopsis of my weight loss journey so far.

53 pounds and a new website

Weigh in this morning: 261 ....can you say, "whoopee!" ?!

My new website is up: www.weightoffmymind.org and here's my personal Take Shape For Life site: www.weightoffmymind.tsfl.com.

Onwards and downwards!

"Very obese fliers on United may have to buy 2nd seat"

That was one of today's headlines in USA Today.

I remember the feeling well, when a ticket taker at an airline counter told me that I may have to buy two seats. You don't know humiliation until something like that has happened to you.

In other news, I am down to 262 as of this morning. That totals 52 pounds since January 21.

www.weightoffmymind.tsfl.com

Diet Pepsi and Orange Shakes - not a great combo

Where did summer go? Now it's cool and grey up here in Or-eh-gone once more. That's alright, I can enjoy that too.

I weighed in this morning at 267 lbs. up from 264. I'm guessing I'm holding on to some water. I made a mock-oriental lean and green meal last night that was a little heavy on the sodium.

I'm trying to get all my water down (The Target brand of water flavor packets are the best). I had an Orange shake this afternoon - not my favorite. I forgot to bring a can of creme soda with me so I bought a diet Pepsi out of the machine here at work to mix with the shake. Ugh! Not horrible, but not great. I hate diet Pepsi!

I'm going to try to be a little more stringent with the food plan and see if that doesn't loosen up this mini plateau a little.

www.weightoffmymind.tsfl.com

The great wait

I shuffled into the bathroom this morning for my morning weigh in and shower.

Does anyone else feel a twinge of fear when you step on the scale and wait for the answer to pop up?

Back before the digital era, you'd step on the scale and the little dial would almost immediately point to your weight. Now that it's all digital, I first have to tap the scale with my foot to zero it out and then step on it and then...wait.

It's just a few seconds, but they are incredibly long seconds before the amount you weigh flashes on the little screen.

My number this morning was 264 lbs. That 50lbs in 10 weeks. Congratulations to me.

6,000 Pounds

I went to a meeting of heath advisers yesterday in Portland. There was about 200 people there. We all went up on stage and stated how much weight we had lost on Medifast. The total was over 6,000 pounds for the group!

This morning I weighted in at 265. It's really hard to believe it. 250s here I come.

And the pounds keep rolling off...

I'd down 48 lbs as of this morning...thank you Medifast for saving my life. Thank you Dave for letting me know about it. :)


www.weightoffmymind.tsfl.com

Down a pound

I'm back down to 267 this morning. Wow this has been a weird week or so of weight loss/weight gain.

I'm hoping that I back in the weight loss groove again! I do need to drink more water (seems like a hassle to me).

I got my latest order of Medifast foods in yesterday. I tried the Smores bar which was new to me...really good. I also tried the cream of chicken which was also good, but I needed to mix it a little better than I did. It ended up a little clumpy.

Onward and downward!

Hovering

My weight is holding steady at 268 lbs. It's bound to break any day now, I've just got to hang in there and stick with the program.

By my calculations, I'll be down to goal weight by the end of this summer. That will be worth celebrating.

www.weightoffmymind.tsfl.com

Finally shaking off this cold

I think I'm finally shaking off this cold I've had for almost two weeks. Ugh! I hate it when I get like that, 'cause it really slows me down and I don't have time to slow down!

Weigh in this morning: 268 I don't plan on staying here too long. Let's see if I can get into the 250s here pretty quick-like!

I went to Target on Sunday and bought a pair of jeans from the regular men's section instead of the "big boys" store. :) That felt gooood! I also bought a new cowboy shirt at the local western store here in Salem. Feels good to find something in a "normal" store that fits!

www.weightoffmymind.tsfl.com

I've had a cold for the last couple of weeks and boy is it getting me down. I'm sticking to the Medifast program though.

I weighed in this morning and I was at 267 lbs. Yippee yi yo ki yay!

I notice I've been a little hungrier over the last few days. I've eaten just a little extra protein to compensate and I still seem to be losing okay.

47 lbs and counting!

Back up a little

I'm up to 273 lbs this morning from 269 last week. I had a cheat night last weekend, but not enough to gain weight. Maybe it was enough to hold water?

I've got to up my intake of water and keep going forward. Enough of this foolishness! No more cheat nights for awhile.

Hello 260s

Well...not bad if I do say so myself. ;)

Weigh in this morning was 269 lbs. That's 45 lbs in a little over 8 weeks.

At this point, there's no where to go but down.

I'm going down....

I love it when the scale greets me with a weightloss (who wouldn't!?).

This morning, weigh in was 271 lbs.

I will soon be in my 260's.

I keep waiting to wake up and find out that this was all some kind of wild dream.

Down three pounds in one week

Weighed in this morning...guess what? 274.2
That's a three pound loss since last Saturday morning.

So I'm back to where I was on Tuesday when I was celebrating, but it's a little bit lower.

I think I will increase my water intake and see if that makes any difference in the speed of the weight loss.

Staying Focused

I got on the scale this morning for my daily obsessive weigh in session. Today's weight: 275.2 That's down from 275.8 yesterday, so I just may hit my 260s next week. Wouldn't that be cool!

My weight isn't falling off like it did during the first couple of weeks on Medifast, but it is still consistently coming off. That's a good thing. The only way to beat this weight problem is to stay focused on my goal and never, ever give up.

Played drums last night. Boy am I sore today.

Pounding the pounds off

I thought this was an interesting take on excercise, considering I am a drummer!

If you’re looking for a way to burn off excess calories in large numbers, but conventional exercises bore you to tears, you hate cycling, and your neighborhood and/or climate is unsuitable for jogging, here’s one more option to consider: become the drummer for a rock band.

Or just pretend to be one, by buying a complete set of drums, setting up down in the basement or garage or spare room, and getting down to it.

This suggestion is inspired by the news that researchers at the University of Gloucestershire have found, after extensive study and monitoring, that Clem Burke, drummer for Blondie, burns 400 to 600 calories per hour when performing onstage. This is a caloric tear on the order of running 10,000 meters or playing a pro soccer game.

Of course, the study involved concert-level exertion; rehearsals may not be as effective. And the genre would be important; there’s probably a considerable gap in energy expenditure between heavy metal and lounge jazz. Nevertheless, as physical exertion goes, banging the skins and cymbals is impressively efficient and could be a lot of fun in the bargain. Not to mention that it’s a great way to break a lease.

Milestone Day

This morning i hit a major milestone...40 lbs in 7 weeks! Un-be-lievable!

I also signed up as a Take Shape For Life coach yesterday. I'm telling you, this Medifast program is the best ever. It has given me a whole new lease on life, so I'm going to start singing its praises.

I hope I don't sound like a commercial. If you're new to this blog, take a look back through the years of posts and you'll see what I've been going through. Medifast works!

As a new coach, you may order through me here (www.weightoffmymind.tsfl.com) and I will personally assist you in your weightloss effort. I've been there, I'm still there and I've been through many of the same struggles you have been through. I understand.

Finally...I'm free at last!

My mini plateau broke this morning. Can you shout hallelujah?!!

Down 2lbs to 275 for a total loss of 39lbs since January 19.

Back to 277

Wow...what a strange trip this week. This little mini plateau was a little unexpected. Yesterday (Friday) I was still at 278...this morning, I'm back to 277.

I was a little hungry a couple days this week but nothing I couldn't handle.

So on with the show.

279 Day 3: Weightloss Held Hostage

Okay...the jokes over. Come on Mr. Body. First you tease me and drop something like 18 pounds in one week and now this.

In the the spirit of Moses I proclaim, "Let my fat loss go! Let my fat loss go!"

279: Day 2

Imagine my surprise at weigh-in this morning. Still at 279. No worries (maybe a little); it's probably water weight and will go down tomorrow?

See you at the scale.

Going up

OK...what's this all about? Weigh in today: 279
My body must be changing around the rigging inside...you know, balancing the water and the other stuff and making sure I'm not starving to death.

I'm not starving to death! Get over it!

Now, on with the weightloss.

Hello 270s!

Weigh in today: 277
Total loss since January 20: 37 lbs.

Don't ask me how long it's been since I've been in my 270's...at least 20 years.

2 pounds gone!

I had a nice surprise this morning. The scale read 280 lbs. That's about 5 lbs for the week! Whoop!

Stuck

Well, I'm still stuck at 282 lbs. Maybe tomorrow will break the jam? Finally found the "my medifast" community forums. Why was that so hard to find?

I haven't cheated one little bit yet. I did try to work out on the elliptical machine this afternoon. Oh man am I out of shape! After 5 minutes I thought I was going to die!

Onward through the fat! I mean, fog.

Impatient

I'm feeling a little down today. I don't know if it is the diet or the Oregon weather or what. I'm sure I'll be fine in a day or two.

Weighed in this morning at 282.4 I've lost 4 lbs in the last week. Not too shabby!

Still going down

Weigh in today: 282.

Geez loueez! Do you know how long it's been since I was this weight? I don't either!

Happy Anniversay - 1 Month on Medifast

Happy Anniversary to me! One month on Medifast. This has been the quickest and most effective (and painless) diet that I've ever been on. It's gets easier every day.

Weigh in this morning: 285. for a total of 29lbs in one month. Sweet!

Hovering

I've spent the last three days hovering at the weight of 286 lbs. No worries...the weightloss will continue. Maybe tomorrow.

Welcome to the 280's

Weighed in this morning at an even 289. Glory hallelujah! I know this diet is going to work now.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is my 3 week anniversary on Medifast. Weigh-in this morning: 290. Sweet. 280s here I come.

One more

Weighed in this morning. 291. That's what I'm talking about.

Little by little

Weighed in this morning: 292.3 This is my lowest weight in years.

I've got to keep my mind on the small goals. Like, "hey, I'll be in my 280's in just a few days." Then just keep focused on maybe 5 or ten pound increments instead of seeing the whole "big" (padum-bump!) picture.

I've been doing a comparison between Wonderslim and Medifast diets on line. Wonderslim looks like it would taste better (though Medifast doesn't taste bad to me at all anymore :), but I just don't trustWS for some reason. Medifast is more "professional" looking to me. I don't know. We'll see down the line.

Just 3 more pounds.

I weighed in this morning: 293

Just three more pounds until I reach my 280's which I haven't seen in a month of Sundays.

I can do it!

3 Fat Chicks

I've latched on to a great little community at 3 Fat Chicks. There's some really unbelievable before and after pics if you do a little digging.

Weighed in this morning at 294.6. Nice.

Had some of the Maryland Crab soup by Medifast (courtesy of my coach, Denise). Man it was good! Spicy and thick. I love it.

So menu yesterday was:
Breakfast: oatmeal (medifast)
Mid morning: meal bar (medifast)
Lunch: soup (medifast)
Mid afternoon: shake (medifast)
Dinner: 6 oz. pork steak, 1 cup of yellow squash and one cup of salad greens
Evening meal: shake (medifast)

Trying not to obsess

I weighed Sunday morning (yesterday) and weighed in at 295. That was down a pound and a half from the day before!

Weighed in this morning (why do I do this to myself?) and weighed in at 296 1/2 lbs.

I'm sticking with the 295 figure, cause there's no way to gain a pound and a half overnight except by having that much fluid, etc. still floating around in my body.

My next goal is 289 lbs. I should reach that in a week or so, don't you think?

We have lift off!

I'm pretty excited. This morning I weighed in at 296.8 lbs. Holy cow, I've lost almost 18 pounds since the 19th of this month.

I was hoping for a pound loss this morning on the scale (since I obsessively weigh every day), but whoa!

All the Medifast foods are tasting better now that I've figured out how to jazz them up without effecting cals and carbs.

My next goal: 289.

One Week On Medifast

Today marks one week on Medifast. Seems like a month. ;)

I weighed this morning and weighed 300 lbs. That's 14 lbs in one week. Surely that's a world record. Ha!

This diet is totally livable and doable. I'm just afraid of the sure-to-come "plateau." Maybe I'll luck out and miss it entirely.

I can do it. Right?

Medifast "plan," day 3.

Weighed this morning and I was down to 305. Huh? Did I have that much water to lose?

Had the blueberry oatmeal this morning. Not horrible so that's a plus. That was 7:30. by 9:00 I had finished my chocolate mint bar because I was hungry.

I have cream of broccoli soup to look forward to for lunch. Woo-woo. I need to get some excitement going. No one said this plan was going to be easy.

Medifast - Day 2

Well, I'm not feeling quite as hungry today as I did yesterday. I weighed this morning and the scale read 307. I must be losing a lot of water weight. Had a cup of coffee

Had the scrambled eggs this morning. I must have put too much water into them because I ended up with a hot and clumpy egg shake. Mmmm. Actually I both ate and drank it and it wasn't bad.

Had the chocolate bar for mid morning break. Good tasting.

Tomato soup for lunch. Uh...needs salt and pepper and splenda to make it palatable. Not bad with the added ingredients. Had a cup of coffee with lunch.

Vanilla shake for mid afternoon snack. Not too bad.

As with all the Medifast foods, you really have to get inventive and fix up the taste. But guess what, if I lose as much weight as they claim I can, I'd eat dirt.

Medifast To The Rescue

Well, here I am back at the starting line again.

A good friend of mine suggested I check out the Medifast Plan. I thought, "why not?" Then I started reading up on it on the internet. It was created by John Hopkins University. That was a big plus. The last thing I want to do is start on another trendy diet.

I've been on them all. Weight Watchers, Atkins (twice - back in the 70s and in the 90s)...the list could go on.

I've also seriously thought about getting a gastric bypass operation except that it is dangerous and the weight can jump back on you if you don't have your act together.

No, I'm going to go full guns (full gums?) into Medifast and watch what happens. No cheating. If all goes according to plan (theirs) the weight should start dropping off of me.

Yesterday I was supposed to get the Medifast box of joy but didn't receive it until the end of the day. I went on an improvised Medifast plan just because I didn't want to wait anymore. I weighed in at 314 lbs.

This morning I weighed in at 310. Not sure why there was such a drop, but oh well.
I've been on the Medifast plan all day today and so far, I've lived through it.

The food I tried was borderline nasty, but I ate it anyway, because this is going to work. It all tasted like hospital food. Maybe the next choices won't be as bad.