Hey! Two words: bag salad.

No, really. I'd rarely have a salad at home if it weren't for these.

tuckr, 7 mile bike ride, great!

Jay

Both great ideas, I think part of my problem is that I'm spoiled from eating really "fancy" salads on the road while on expense account so I get a little bored with the bag salad. I had some last night though!

That actually sounds really fun, I think that I'm reasonably close to being able to get through that, especially if I don't push my pace too hard. I should see if there are any close, that would be a fun exercise goal.

Tucker, that's really funny because the same day you wrote this was the first time since I've started this that I got on the bike at the gym (I'm not a big fan of biking). I actually did exactly 7 miles on a resistance of 8. Weird coincidence.

It's good to hear that the physical activity is paying off, while it is less of a contributor to loss than what you eat, I find that the exercise is more motivating because it pays quicker dividends in how I feel and the energy I have.

Last night I did 5 pushups with 3 toddlers on my back, one 38 lbs, one 31 lbs, and one 27 lbs. I felt like superman lol. Until they all fell off and 5 minutes of bawling ensued;)

Sat/Sun March 28-29 - Thinking like a maintainer

I have a new mantra when faced with challenges that I know will put me off plan...what would a maintainer (specifically me) need to do.

I'm really worried about maintenance when I get there and know I have to think differently about things, I can't just lose a bunch of weight and then go back to the old way I used to eat.

Anyway I had another very very challenging and tempting weekend that I am pretty pleased with how I tackled.

Saturday
First off, I knew Saturday was going to be really messed up. We had pictures in the morning and my wife insisted on going to a famous pancake house on the way (who's going to argue with 39 weeks pregnant;). Then I knew we also had a nice evening alone planned at a nice restaurant we had a gift card to as well as show tickets.

We get to the pancake house and the menu is about what I expected. I was pretty tempted to have something I've really been missing (biscuits and gravy) but since I knew we had a nice dinner planned I couldn't afford it. So I went with an omelette (no cheese) that was actually really good. I was a little mad that the restaurant refused (even for a charge) to substitute fruit for the bread side of pancakes, muffin, or biscuit. But it worked out because I gave my toddler the pancakes and ended up saving having to buy her a meal. Who would have ever thought that I'd split a meal with my kiddo?

Then I did really good by eating a very light, low calorie lunch since it was my only meal at home.

Then we had dinner out at one of my favorite cajun seafood restaurants. And it was a treat so I had already decided to not be the best I could, but I also wanted to make some "new" decisions almost as more of a psycological thing than anything else.

So instead of a fried calamari appetizer, I had some raw oysters on half shell. Then I skipped the bread entirely. I had my favorite meal, sauteed crabfingers with dirty rice, but only ate about a third of the dirty rice. Then I only had a bite of my wife's ridiculously good bread pudding.

All in all I ate probably 30-40% less volume than my normal meal there, and made some good substitutions. And the best part was I was still quite full, I definately cannot eat as much as I could several months ago which is encouraging. However also frustrating because this restaurante doesn't have nutritional information available online so not really sure how much I saved.

Sunday
Sunday's big challenge (other than the every week amazing church breakfasts I have to just skip) was going out to lunch with the in-laws. Of course the only restaurant open in their tiny town was a country-style buffet restaurant. The type with platters of chicken fried steak/catfish, mashed potatoes, cream spinach, etc. I figured I was just going to be flat out screwed but was pleasantly surprised at the choices. In addition to the normal fare (really hard to pass up the things mentioned above) they had grilled pork, assorted grilled veggies, and sauteed mushrooms.

So I made wise choices there and actually ended up doing pretty well.

Then the final temptation was on the way home, we were all starved on the drive back after 7 and we were really tempted to go through a drive thru, but I stuck to my guns and we made it home and had a more healthy meal there.


PHEW!!! Seriously I feel sometimes like I'm in the scene from the Matrix where the guy dodges the bullets in slow motion. I've found that I really have to stay focused, think about options, think about future meals, etc. And don't try to overdo the healthy thing to the point of being misearable. I don't look back at this weekend and think that I "missed out" on anything which is really really impotant!

Weekly Update - Week 16

Starting Weight - 260 lbs
Current Weight - 202 lbs
Loss This Week -4bs
Total Loss - 58 lbs

Well a 4 is obviously a huge humber since I am getting close to goal and haven't had a number this high in 2 months. That said without getting into too much TMI;) I was definately a bit emptier this morning than an average day. And I didn't work out Fri-Sun so water a bit lower than average maybe. Still undeniable progress, but I won't be surprised to see a 0 or -1 next week.

Diet
Boring boring boring week. Nothing fun or exciting to say. This part of life when I'm at home is becoming somewhat routine (which is great:carrot:) and I already made a post about this past weekend which was really the only interesting stuff.

Ooo one interesting thing. Based on a post I saw on here I got a case of these things called Popchips from Amazon. I got salt and vinegar which is my favorite chip flavor. I decided to get the little bags (0.8 oz) the size of a normal single serving you might get in a store. But they are really light so seems like more than the weight. Only 100 calories and very satisfying, not quite the same as normal chips, but a very very good alternative. I recommend them for chip fiends (assuming you can avoid eating 5 bags at a time which is why I got the little ones).


Exercise
Pretty boring here as well. Worked out M-Th then took Fri-Sun off. I could have gotten in a workout on Friday but passed, and Sat-Sun weren't going to happen.

One cool thing from this week. I left my house to go to the gym this morning and my car wasn't there (and my wife was running errands in our other car)! Then I remembered that I left my car at church yesterday and we forgot to go back and get it. My first inclination was to say :devil::devil: "Well too bad guess I can't go to the gym (I actually workout at our church) today. But it was really nice and I had the time so I decided to jog to our church which as I found out later is 2.4 miles away. So that was a nice little victory.

Looking to the future
Still no kiddo 2. I now think I have a more legitimate chance of getting to 200 officially before he comes!

Thank you so much for your updates and inspiration. If you can do it we can do it right? And if we can do it someone else can. And it is so nice to read about your week and know that whatever is going on, it gives us something we can relate to or look forward to doing,..whatever.

Thank you, my not so fat new friend!

Barb

NIce
 

GREAT JOB on the 4 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!! you are doing great, and I am envious, I am still stuck at around the 25 lb mark, but it is my own fault, keep drinking the beer and cheating on weekends, so I know what I am doing wrong. I have though been working out for over 2 months straight 4 to 5 days a week and I feel great, endurance is up, No more intense red face from working out!!!!!!!! that stas with me all afternoon, I started elpical, 20 mins on a 6 doing 30 at a 12 and over all feel so much better!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks again for the inspiration and the continued progress you are makin, good luck on the 200 lb goal

Thanks much! I appreciate the encouragement

Apr 2-4 Easter Weekend : Redefining "Special"

I'm growing increasingly convinced that a massive key to weightloss and maintenance is a complete redefinition of "Special" meals/events/days. My old way of thinking about this was a significant barrier to weightloss for me, partially because of the calories from those "specials", but more significantly from the attitude that there are times it doesn't matter what I put in my body. This IMO led directly to a much easier environment for me to carry that attitude over into non special days.

Old Attitude/Approach
So my old attitude was pretty typical I think. I found a lot of excuses to call something "special" and would use it as license to go hog-wild (literally:D). Let's just look at the last several days for me. In the past I would have viewed all of these as "special" and given myself freedom to eat whatever.

All Week - Easter coming up lots of candy available
Wednesday - Dinner out with good friends
Thursday - Poker night with the buddies (junk food abounds)
Friday - My mother arrives in town, we go out to eat
Saturday - Easter egg hunt/church potluck with the kiddo
Saturday Night - Last date night with the wife before kiddo #2 comes
Sunday - Easter dinner and lots of leftovers

And that's just in the last half a week!!! It is clear that taking such a lax attitude towards "specials" might feel like a deserved reward for being on plan the rest of the time, but it quickly piles up and becomes just an excuse to binge.

New Attitude/Approach
My new approach that's been working pretty well has included the following steps.

1. Significantly cutting down on what qualifies as "special". I've probably cut these excuses down to <1/3rd of what they used to be. But I still recognize their place in my life...I'm not going to skip out on Easter dinner with the extended family.

2. Create several new categories of "special". I don't do this real formally in my head, but this is the approach.

A) Special without going off plan - for these I keep the special event but either completely avoid the food, eat beforehand, or eliminate the food component of it. For example when attending our church Easter Egg hunt and related events, I just didn't eat there. I had a nice lunch before and dinner afterwards. I enjoyed the time without pigging out on candy

B) Special but within total calories - for these I give myself license to eat food I might not normally eat on plan, but keep it within my overall calorie limits for the day. For example Saturday night on date night my wife and I split several things I might not normally eat, but I had planned my calories out all day and kept it inside my limits for this meal.

C) Special but make reasonable choices- for these I don't stress about calorie counts, but consciously still work to make good choices within the environment/situation I am in. For example Easter dinner I enjoyed with the family, but doubled up on veggies and skipped the cheesy scalloped potatoes and rolls.

D) Special and do whatever!!!- this would be the old approach. This is special and do whatever I want! I can't think of a recent example of this, the last was probably New Year's Eve where I went pretty crazy at a party.


Aftermath

Before working on this, 100% of "specials" were in Category D. Now I've first of all immediately cut 50%+ of what I count as "special". Within the remaining chunk I now want 80-90% to be in Categories A and B, with 10-15% in Category C and <5% being in Category D (if any). I don't obviously count it out like that, but those are the general weights I think are appropriate.

I think this is really important. The more I read these boards the more I am convinced (myself included) that the hard part of this process is not being on-plan, but instead the choices that you make when off-plan whether by your choice or circumstances.

I completely agree with you on this, randomcards. When it comes to food, everything counts, all the time. Our bodies don't care whether we call it "special" or not.

Good going! :bravo:

Jay

Weekly Update - Week 17

Starting Weight - 260 lbs
Current Weight - 202 lbs
Loss This Week -0 lbs
Total Loss - 58 lbs

Per my prediction last week, not surprised to see a 0 this week. The 4 last week was an anomoly after 5-6 straight weeks of losing 2 per week and was partially lower water weight. I'm actually pleased to not go up since I had a hard workout on Sat, and then Easter was over calorie which tends to lead to more water weight. I did good last week, so not worried about the 0.

NSV of the Week

After losing my first 9 pounds I made this post....back in December
Wore that belt this weekend and I am now wearing it comfortably on the tightest notch. In otherwords this belt is now too big for me! I'll have to get another smaller one!



Diet
At home again so not a whole lot to talk about. I did wander from plan more than I should have this weekend.

Friday my mother arrived into town so we went out to eat. I made some good choices at a Mexican restaurant, but it was still definately off plan. Then Saturday night we went to a dinner/movie and I did not do great at that meal (although really good up to that point). Then Sunday was Easter dinner which is going to be off plan. But in each case I still made better conscious decisions than I used to make in the past so that is good.

On a more positive note, there were tons of tempting food around the house this week, Easter candy, leftovers, cake, ice cream, etc, and I ignored all of it. This is a good sign for being able to pace myself with the onslaught of meals we will get when the baby comes.

Also, I am eating far too many 60 calorie sugar free puddings. Too much of a good thing:(.


Exercise
Great week here, had 5 solid gym days only skipping Friday this week. Started to up the intensity at the gym this week, and do more short circuit type high intensity exercises which are tough but good for me I think.

I'm now running a mile at the beginning of all of my workouts at a 7.5 on the treadmill (8 min mile pace) which is awesome, never pictured I would be able to do that. And most gym days my total cardio ends up being 3-4 miles. I'm feeling pretty strong, but not as agile or flexible as I'd like, I hate working on that stuff, but need to make it a higher priority.


Looking to the future
Still no kiddo 2 (again!). That's the big event of the week hopefully (wife is already 5 days overdue). Again I'm still nervous about how this will impact diet/exercise, but my energy and confidence is high to keep going!

Wed Apr 7th - Undereating leads to overeating

So last night was a big ball of fail.

Had a 2nd large and completely unnecessary piece of amazing lasagna. This was dumb because even the first piece was slightly larger than what I should have eaten.

Then surprisingly 3 chocolate chip cookies some friends brought over ended up finding their way to my belly, and to be honest it was really close to being like 5 or 6. This is wierd for me, it's been months really since I've had anything more than a tiny bite of a non low calorie dessert.

I got to thinking later about it and there was really 2 key reasons...

1. 1st the obvious one of lack of self-control. Can never ignore that one or fail to take responsibility.

2. 2nd and more interesting was my food the rest of the day. When looking back here is what I had eaten prior to dinner. Note I had a long hard workout also.
a. 180 calorie protein shake
b. 1 can of tuna with a little lite miracle whip and hot sauce
c. A bunch of sugar snap peas
d. 100 calories of sunflower seeds

Basically I got really busy with work and ended up skipping my second lunch, so I got to dinner with only 500ish calories in my belly. That is creating an environment for failure...

Well, on to today!

No problem
 

Get back on the horse, we are always going to have as you call them fail days, and maybe we need those days to get our head back on straight??? You are doing great!!!!

Keep up the great work

Hoping your baby has come and mommy and baby are doing well and that daddy is too!

Weekly Update - Week 18


Big news!
Well I know my weekly update is a little late, that's because my son was born on Monday afternoon! Everybody is healthy, he's a big boy clocking in at 9lbs 8oz. My wife had him completely natural in a birthing center with a midwife, which is an experience I would highly recommend for those interested, it was our 2nd time.

So that's the big news, weight loss stuff pales in comparison but I'll go through that too.

Starting Weight - 260 lbs
Current Weight - 200 lbs (Tuesday weigh-in instead of Monday)
Loss This Week -2 lbs
Total Loss - 60 lbs

Pretty fun to hit a major round number the same week as my child's birth. I started this process when my wife was 22-23 weeks pregnant, can't believe how much I've changed in the weeks since.

Realistically I'm not expecting to lose for the next 4-6 weeks, my goal is to stay between 200-205. I'm going to have drastically reduced control over what food I eat for the next month between constant family members, friends, church bringing meals, only able to control portions which is still not my strong suit. I'm already doing much better in this department, but my diet will be far from "on-plan".


Diet
As mentioned above I'm a bit screwed here. I'm trying to think positive and view it is a test for learning how to control myself when surrounded by temptation. I've done a great job of making my house an environment for success, but that just won't be the case for the next month.

My main focus will be to try to have at least breakfast and lunch every day be typical on-plan stuff. Then dinner I'm just going to have to practice portion control. The worst will be desserts, everybody will bring them and they'll just sit here with my wife and mom nibbling on them until they go bad...constant temptation.

Exercise
Killer week last week, worked out M-Sat every day awesome stuff.

We'll see how this week goes, I'm going to try to go a couple of times, I think it will be good to get my blood flowing and keep in the swing of things, but obviously scheduled is a little wacked out now.


Looking to the future
Entering a new phase of things, it will require agility on my plans and behaviours.

Right now my main focus is to not use life events as an exuse to go crazy. There is a critical difference between not being perfectly on plan vs. downing the 3 quarts of icecream in my freezer right now. My goal is to "survive" the next couple of weeks from a weight loss perspective and then sit down and decide how I will need to adjust what's been working for me to accomodate the changes at home!

Wish me luck!

Many congratulations to you, your wife and little girl! :welcome3: to the little boy!

Congrats!!!! :carrot:

Awesome!!
 

Congrats on the kiddo, and the 200 lb mark WOW!!!!!!!!!! Amazing

You will do just find, if you look back at your journal you will see that temptation is around you all the time anyway, and you have been handling it great!!!

Remember it is just food!!!!!!!!! Thats all!!!!!

Congrats again

and keep up the good work

Thanks for the well-wishes everyone!!

Saturday 4/17 - New Baby, New Shoes, New NSV

Well so far about as expected. I've been sleeping less, exercising less, and eating more :(

But it's not as bad as that, overall I'm pretty pleased with this week. Got in 3 good workouts and am making fair food choices given the circumstances and the unbelievable amount of food that is around from family/guests. Had a few slip-ups with desserts, but eating close to maintenance calories which is ok with me for the moment.


I've made a lot of posts here about my frustration with running. I felt like my ankles/calfs/knees were not holding up as well as I expected them to with the weight loss as I tried to increase my running. I could run 1 to 1.5 miles, but after that my legs would give out and really start to hurt, and I really felt it was holding me back.

I hoped the issue was shoes and against the better advice of everyone on here I searched for shoes on my own instead of going to a running store to get fitted. Actually bought a pair at a sporting goods store, and ended up returning them.

Finally I decided to heed the advice of others and go to a running store and get analyzed and fitted. WOW!!! The process was very great, efficient, I ran on a treadmill and then watched it in slow-mo while the person showed me my overpronation (it was so obvious and looked painful!). She brought out some shoes, all of which felt good. I tried ones with different levels of stability assistance.

It was unbelievable to see the instantaneous difference on the slow-mo video with the stability shoes. Ended up getting them and it was a fair price. I'm sure it was 10-15% more than I would have paid at a big store, but the personal service and help was more than worth it.

BIG NSV
Back in my first post I listed my major priorities. One of them was...

Today I decided to go to the gym and try the new shoes out. Longest I've run consecutive without stopping has been about 1.5 miles. Today I ran a full 5K (3.2miles) without stopping once!!!! I did the whole thing at a 6.5mph pace. It was unbelievable, my knees and ankles didn't really hurt at all. My feet hurt a little by the end which is understandable with new shoes and running more than double my previous best. Anyway that was a huge huge huge thing for me. A major goal!

Congratulations on the shoes!!! They make a tremendous difference, as you have found! Many years ago in my 20s I tried jogging with crappy tennis shoes, and my knees got so bad I thought I had some weird arthritis. It was just the bad shoes.

Jay

Thanks for the comments
 

Hey Random,

That top post is very impressive and an inspiration. I might just go with a similar approach. Anyway, great job here! I haven't had time to read the thread but had to check it out. I am feeling those motivational juices start to flow.

Agreed! I'm a huge convert now...

Thanks Bob, I've learned a lot of this the hard way. I think reading things like my thread, along with dozens and dozens of others can help you pull little tidbits here and there that will work/help you! Good luck

Thursday April 22 - Getting Crushed

Ugg, I was worried about this. I'm doing so well up until dinner with the new kiddo. I'm still making it to the gym, and eating well.

Then it's all going to crap at dinner time... We've had people bringing us dinner every single night. Always like lasagna, cresent rolls, and unbelievable desserts. It's killing me. I've eaten more dessert in the last week than I have in the last 2-3 months :(

I've got to figure out a solution. My wife wouldn't be on board with me just chucking fantastic food in the garbage, if I don't eat it it just sits around forever while my wife nibbles here and there. But I'm really having a hard time displaying self control.

Right now, we have in the house...
-Homemade chocolate chip cookies
-Homemade peach cobbler
-2 half gallons of ice cream
-Homemade chocolate cake
-Homemade pinapple upside down cake

Plus the fact that the kiddo is on a late schedule (is up/fussy till midnight or so) is making it even worse...

I've got to figure this out!

I understand
 

Good luck with the desserts!!!!!!!! I have been in a slump lately, just kinda don;t care. Only worked out twice this week, ate terrible, pizza last night, Mcdonalds and Hardees in the past 3 days. My motivation is terrible and I just can;t get back into the swing of things???? Maybe next week will be better???? Good luck on the food issue and keep up the good work

Tucker

You know Tucker, I grow more and more convinced each day that the key to this whole thing is how we respond to failure. In the past I've been so guilty of allowing myself to turn one bad meal or day or decision into several days of crap. It's like going into the store with a credit card and impulse buying something you don't really need. They you say to yourself "well I already spent $100 on this card, might as well spend $1,500 on a new TV".

I don't know how we actually convince ourselves of things like that but it obviously happens. This is the biggest psychological thing I'm working on right now, reminding myself that just like weight loss is a cumulation of lots of little decisions and I just need to work on keeping my negative decisions as one step back instead of a march backwards.

Today's a better day. I was really tempted to give up yesterday. Up till dinner I basically ate a protein shake and half a cake lol. The little devil on my should was trying to tell me that the day was already lost so screw it, but I was able to kick him off. Ended up just having Ahi Tuna Salad for dinner and not having any bad late night desserts even though I was up till 1 am.

Today I'm feeling back on track, back to the grindstone. You do to the same thing!

Back on it
 

Thanks for the encouraging words, and u are write, it is mostly mental, and sometimes gets tiresome, but I am back today, and back on track. Thanks again and keep up the good work.

Tucker

Weekly Update - Week 20

Starting Weight - 260 lbs
Current Weight - 200 lbs (2 weeks)
Loss This Week -0 lbs
Total Loss - 60 lbs

Well 0 lbs loss in 2 weeks is slightly disappointing, but not surprising. These last 2 weeks have been brutal for the plan and I have not been eating great. I'm in real life mode, and am actually pretty pleased to have maintained over the last 2 weeks and have put in some good effort to make sure I have not gained.

My new son is doing great, he's sleeping well and life is pretty good at the moment, but still obviously getting used to the adjustment. This is the first week without help.


Diet
I've done pretty horrible in this area over the last 2 weeks. The negative is that's it's been my worst 2 weeks since starting this whole thing, the positive is that I have still been conscious of my decisions and have made a lot of good decisions too. I have certainely not fallen off the wagon, just succumbed to a lot more temptation than I am used to.

The major problem has been that we have had househelp (family) as well as friends bringing virtually every dinner for the last 2 weeks. So it's usually pretty unhealthy (casseroles, lasagnas, enchiladas, etc.) and somehow they always bring dessert. So I've been doing ok with meals up to dinner, but been getting destroyed at dinner and beyond.

The dessert thing is really really a problem at the moment. I barely ate any desserts for 4 months. I don't miss them when they are not around. But I have a really really hard time controlling myself and portions when there are 2 dozen freshly baked brownies on the counter.

I have been disappointed in my lack of self control with dinner/dessert a few days. I have no issues at the moment with eating at maintenance levels off plan, but think it's really negative when I eat double the amount of dinner I should.

On the positive side I am aware of it, and thinking about it. And it will get much much easier this week as we no longer have family staying with us and will be making our own food again.


Exercise
I'm much more pleased with this aspect of life and it has been a big help to counteract my diet excesses (although I know that will only go so far). I have been working out a tiny bit less than before but still getting to the gym 4ish days a week and doing some stuff at home.

I've been enjoying running a lot more with my new fitted shoes. Yesterday I ran a personal best 7:40 mile which I know isn't that fast, but it is to me! How do marathon runners do 26.2 miles at a 5 min/mile pace? Wow...

The best news on this front is that I'm starting to get to that point where I almost feel like I have to go to the gym to burn off energy. If I can get to the point where it is a true desire that would be awesome!

Looking to the future
My goal this week is to get back into a "weight loss" mode instead of a survival mode. I've had some poor behaviours recently that I want to get eliminated again. Gotta hit the one hundreds this week!

Good Job
 

You are doing Great!!!!!!!, New baby in the house, you still getting in 4 workouts a week, outstanding!!! and no gain with all the extra calories I think is a win!!!! things will get easier now, so think about it, you made it through the roughiest point with no weight gain. After my 3 day terribble eating and drinkikng beer, I gained nothing as well, I was very surprised!!!! I just can't get back motivated to workout, hopefully this comes back, worked out yesterday before work, but it is hard sometimes to make it to the gym before work, trying to help the wife get teh little one ready for sitters.

Keep up the good work, glad the kiddo is sleeping through the night, and the hardest part is over and u gained noweight!!!!

Good job

Tucker

Thursday Apr 29th - Sprint Triathlon?

I'm seriously considering entering a sprint triathlon about a month away.

Anybody have any experiences or tips positive or negative?

This one is 300M swim, 20K bike, 5K run.

I think it will be tough and about at my limit, I don't expect to do it fast. I've swum a lot in the past, much greater distances, and am not worried about that piece although I'll only be able to train in the pool 3-4 times. I can do a 5k run without stopping now. I just borrowed a bike and will see how tough that piece is. I pretty regularly do 1-1.5 hours of cardio at the gym right now, although usually it's broken into 20-40 minute chunks

I don't really have any interest in doing it fast, but would like the challenge of completion. Ideally I'd do one later to give myself more formal training time, but this is the last on in my area for a long time before it gets way too hot. And I really think I would be able to complete it.

Any advice? I've never done anything like it before.

hi
 

Been a while just checking in to see how things are going

Phew... been too busy to write a real update. I'm about to though!

Weekly Update - Week 23

Starting Weight - 260 lbs
Current Weight - 198 lbs (3weeks)
Loss This Week -2 lbs
Total Loss - 62 lbs

Forgive me, I have been too pre-occupied to write up a decent update so it has been 3 weeks.

On the positive side in the last 3 weeks I have dropped another 2 lbs and am now officially below 200! Pretty exciting.

Other exciting news is that I am now also officially wearing size 34 pants (which I have almost none of, it's been at least 7-8 years since I was size 34). And I've gone from from XL shirts to M shirts, although in some cases the M's are too tight around my upper body which is now more pronounced.

I'm still planning on slowly working my way down to 190, but am really happy with my size/body composition right now so am not in a hurry. My goal is to learn about maintenance during these last 8 lbs and get there slowly.

Diet
As anticipated since the birth of my son I have been in maintenance mode from a calorie perspective. It has been a challenge, the big issue has been desserts that everybody's bringing when they bring us meals. If not for that I'd probably be at goal by now:) But I'm glad to still be slightly losing even though I'm eating more calories overall than I was when I was losing a lot.

What I have been really working on is keeping my cheats (which are now more frequent due to all the delivered food) isolated. So basically I'm having one meal or dessert a day that is wiping out much of my calorie defecit, but I'm doing well for the rest of the day so I am not going over calories.

When the food deliveries stop I'll be able to reestablish a bit more control and increase my defecit some again.

I have been pleased that I have seen many lifestyle changes even now when I am less hardcore focused on diet. I'm still making all the little changes, going with healthy salad dressings, skipping breads, focusing on protein over carbs, snacking healthy, etc... It has become more natural.

On the converse side, I still find it easy to binge. It takes a lot less food before I'm sick-stuffed now, but it's still easy for me to overeat. This is something I'll have to always be mindful of.



Exercise
I'm still working out well, getting in 4-5 good workouts a week. Still mixing things up. I am not seeing fitness increase as quickly as I used to, which I assume is because A)I've already gotten rid of the "low hanging fruit" and B) I have not increased my intensity quite at the rate my fitness has increased.

I have now several times done a 10K bike ride followed by a 5K run (with a little walking) for my workout. That is a fun different experience.

I have experienced one setback. One random day a week and a half ago while I was on the road I was in the gym and hear a funny sound in my knee when I was doing a squat. Now whenever I do a full squat (even without weight) my right knee sounds like somebody is stepping on cereal. It sounds really bad. But it doesn't hurt at all or feel weak. It was weird mostly because the sound wasn't there one day and was really pronounced the next and hasn't changed since.

I'm not quite sure what to do about it, I'm hoping to get to the doctor soon, but for now I'm only eliminating weighted squats, and keeping most of the rest of my workout the same. If I start to feel any pain or weakness I'll adjust further...

Looking to the future
Only 8 lbs away from goal, but I'm honestly not in a rush to get there. 190 is a pretty arbitrary number. I'm very happy where I am at now, but could definately lose 10 more. I have pretty much acheived all the goals I set out for in terms of my energy, physical appearance, and overall health, so I have less urgency to lose more. But I do want to get to 190 and reevaluate. If nothing else I want that 10 lb cushion so I never get to 200 again!

Great news to hear you're under 200! Congrats on that. I agree with your desire to have at least a 10 pound cushion so you don't get up to 200 again. For some reason that 200 mark is a steel enforced door that is easy to walk into, but hard to get out of!

Hope your baby boy and wife are doing well and big sister too.

Outstanding!!!
 

Great job on getting under 200 lbs!!!! I am still plugging along, no real weight loss but still exercising, biked 9 miles longest yet so far so good

keep it up

Tucker

hello??
 

Anyone out there LOL

Hey everybody...

I feel bad I've dropped off the radar for the past several months, life's been pretty wild since kiddo #2 came along. But part of it was just laziness also.

The good news is that I haven't really fallen off the wagon. I've been working on maintaining, and have stayed between 200 and 205 over the past ~4 months. So that is really exciting.

I still would love to get to 190 at some point, but am not in a hurry to get there, I'm really comfortable with where I am at, feel really great, have a ton of energy, and am pretty comfortable with my proportions.

I have been able to keep up a lot of habits from my weight loss phase but have been struggling with some things as well...

Nutrition
Overall I'm eating much much healthier than I have at previous points in my life. I've made a lot of little changes that add up, thinks like passing up on bread at meals, losing butter, very little sugar, and just eating more lean proteins and less carbs overall. The best part is that I'm doing a fantastic job of eating great on the road, still making the grocery store visit a part of business trips (thanks Mandalinn!).

I'm still struggling in a couple of areas, I have stopped calorie counting for the past couple of months. I got to the point where I felt like I had gotten the education out of the process I wanted and it was just an unnecessary grind. Part of that is true, but on the other side it causes me to lose accountability for cheats.

Overall my normal diet is still in defecit for my size/activity level, but I am cheating more often now which is counterbalancing that defecit and keeping me at maintenance. Night time eating is still (always) a struggle, some days are great and others not so great. But overall I'm eating at maintenance which I am comfortable (but not thrilled) with. It will help when we no longer keey M&M's on top of the fridge as a potty training reward for my toddler:(

Exercise
I've moved from loss into maintenance mode here as well. But the good news is that I have been faithful in this area, I just do 3-4 good workouts a week instead of 5-6. That of course doesn't count all the activity of dealing with a 2 year old and baby. I'm pretty pleased with my fitness level, can now do 50 consecutive pushups (and 100-130 in a session), can run several miles easily, etc. It was actually fun to help some friends move and actually be the person in the best shape there. It has completely transformed my energy level for my family and improved home life as a result...

What's next
Tweaking. I have replaced dozens and dozens of bad habits with better ones, but that doesn't mean I don't still have a few more to deal with. I don't have plans at this point to aggressively try to lose down to 190 or lower. But I would like to tweak some of the bad habits and that should cause me to go a little lower.

I have been a little disappointed my wife doesn't seem to be as interested in eating really healthy as I am, I hope she comes on board more with me in the coming months.

I'll work on doing a better job of staying active on this board, I know it helps keep me accountable. Thanks for all the support and encouragement this board has provided.

Randomcards - I actually thought of you just last week, as I picked up my rental car at 10pm and dutifully headed off to the grocery store. The accounting folks all think I'm NUTS submitting my grocery store receipts as meals!

Excellent work! :bravo:

How do I get a weight loss tracker?