Dave’s Update: Friday 7-7-09

So, some of you called me out on my choices of food this week, questioning my decision to eat granola bars and Cheerios.

Let’s get something straight, okay?  I have a horrible diet. I’ve NEVER eaten what most people consider healthy foods. I despise most vegetables and don’t eat any meat other than chicken (yes, that means no seafood). So, my diet had always been very bland and made up of starches and junk food. Cooking for me is not fun because I’m also very picky.

A picky fat guy? Imagine that.

I have asked a friend of a friend, a chef, to create a sample menu for me, which I will be experimenting with once he’s got it ready for me. But in the meanwhile, don’t expect to see lots of posts with words like salad, boiled salmon, and water chestnuts. I don’t even know if the last one is healthy, but it sure sounds unappetizing.

While turfdad suggests I am either all in or all out, I would disagree – slightly. I understand what you’re saying. However, I believe the first thing I need to do is stay under the 2,000 calorie mark and weight will come off even if I am eating Cheerios, which are actually better than most breakfast foods, not to mention better than previous foods I indulged in. While choice of foods does play into body functions there is no doubt that limiting my calories WILL cause weight loss – if I am able to stick to it.

I understand why my lack of variety or truly healthy foods causes concern. Part of it may be that I will grow bored of this and go off the wagon. I get that and I AM going to do my damndest to ensure that doesn’t happen.

While ideally, I should be eating healthy foods, the change to a healthier diet will have to be gradual. I know me.

What this means:

• I am going to eat better foods as I experiment and add new items to my menu.
• I am still going to snack on things like Cheerios and granola bars, but I will also add fruit such as apples and bananas.
• I am going to eat less packaged foods and cook more meals at home, store some in the fridge for later.

Yesterday:

Breakfast: chicken sandwich, mustard, 2 slices of wheat bread – 280 calories

Lunch: Pasta w/ light parmesan sauce 450 calories

Dinner: 6 cheese raviolli’s and marinara – 400 calories

Snack: banana (150 calories), Fiber One bar (140 calories)

total 1420 calories

Thanks to everybody who has joined me this week. Keep the comments and suggestions coming. If you have any recipes for foods that even a junk food junkie will enjoy, feel free to share them (keeping in mind my no beef, seafood or pork policy). Now you see what my wife has to put up with!

Oh yeah, I went walking yesterday, too. Half an hour. Look to increase it this weekend.

One warning: Sunday is my birthday, so don’t expect a great update on Monday. My dad is making some good food and I plan to enjoy it.

So, what did you do today? What will you do tomorrow?

Following the path: Daily Update 8-4-09

There is a path I need to follow. Both literally (on a walking trail) and metaphorically.

I am familiar enough with both of the paths I need to take. I’ve traveled them, though I’ve yet to arrive at my destination. I have always gotten sidetracked by that enemy of us all, time. Today was no exception.

Today was not only the first day of my new commitment to eating better and exercising, it was also Day One of our potty training adventure. If you’re unfamiliar with the process, I can only compare it to locking yourself in a room with a rabid wolverine and attempting to get said wolverine to use proper utensils when eating.

My wife’s and my nerves were worn and raw by nightfall, as our son is proving to be more defiant than I would have guessed.

Soon, the entire day was down the drain and I didn’t have make time to exercise. Both my wife and I were frustrated beyond our normal limits and I found myself desperately craving something sweet at 10 p.m. I felt like a drug addict craving my next fix, eying the door, anticipating the moment I could break free and get to my connection.

While I had kept my calorie count fairly low during the day, it was all undone in five minutes at the McDonald’s drive-thru.

So, Day One was not a success. However, this blog is to keep me in check, and I need to update the post with exactly what I ate, so I can see where I went wrong. It’s not hard to figure out…

What I ate today:

• Breakfast: Turkey sandwich, two slices of white bread, mayo – 310 calories
• Lunch – Bowl of pasta w/ cheese sauce – 340 calories
• Snacks – 3 granola bars – 300
• 1 Large McDonald’s milkshake – 1,160 HOLY CRAP!
• Dinner – 2 turkey hot dogs, bread, mustard – 225 calories
• Total – 2,335  (1175 without the shake!)

Okay, now let’s analyze…

First, all of this food is quick-to-eat and surprisingly high in sodium. Lots of empty calories, leaving me unfulfilled and still craving more food at the end of the day. Secondly, NONE of it is healthy.

So, what will I do differently tomorrow?

Eat some fruit, eat a more complete meal, and no milk shakes!

And exercise. I MUST exercise.

So what did you do today? What will you do tomorrow?

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Wednesday Weigh-In March 18, 2009

Extreme diets do NOT work

The thing about having a weight loss blog is that we get ALL sorts of spam, email and ad pitches from people who want to sell to our readers. Most of this crap is well recognized diet pills and diet programs.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people still believe in an easy fix for weight loss. How many of you trust advertisements or so-called “health blogs” which are sponsored by phony product pushers.

I don’t know about you, but my alarm starts ringing the minute I see small print or hear an voice over speed up in an advertisement.

Usually it goes something like this:

Warning: This product has not been reviewed by the FDA and in some cases, has been known to cause bleeding, loss of appetite, increased appetite, erectile dysfunction, excessive body hair, glowing pustules, irregular bowel movements and the occasional exploding stomach which sometimes causes instant death.

Yet, people continue to buy into these things.

Part of it a naive belief that that companies won’t risk getting into trouble by selling bad products.

You’d be wrong. Possibly even dead wrong.

Here’s the thing, and I’m far too lazy/tired to go digging up the backup facts to support this (bad journalist!), these snake oil salesmen will ALWAYS come out ahead! They sell soooooo much crap, that even the slap-on-the-wrist fines and court settlements for the “few people who die” is pocket change compared to what they take in from the desperate and uninformed.

And even if a company is forced out of business, they can simply START A NEW COMPANY and do the same thing all over again until they get busted. Again. It is an endless cycle of scams. The plans might be different, the pills/supplements might be different, but the game is ALWAYS the same. And you will ALWAYS lose.

For 99.98888% of people (a stat I’m pulling out of thin air) there is no magic formula, no “secret” plan. No magic juice from countries you never heard of.

It’s ALL CRAP!

You must simply eat less than you burn. Only then can you lose weight the correct way.

Sure, you can try the quick fixes and sometimes they will work temporarily, but usually the fat comes back because you never changed the habits which caused you to gain weight to begin with. Yes, I realize that some people have physical conditions which either keep them fat or prevent them from losing weight. This blog post is not directed at them. They should consult with real health professionals to determine their best course of option.

As for the rest of us, I believe the solution is quite simple. It’s just not the one we want to hear. It’s not pretty, flashy or easily attainable in exchange for cash.

It’s hard work.

My brother has lost a significant amount of weight, more than 100 pounds on two occasions in his life. Both involved very simple methods – eating less and moving more. Just doing it day after day. It’s that simple.

And that hard.

Now, for the weekly Wednesday Weigh-In

Tara Cain

I seem to have successfully cut out the crap from my diet (not a single biscuit, cake, chocolate bar has tempted me), but truth be told I’ve just replaced it with another comfort food this week - bread.

Yesterday was the worst when I had toast for breakfast, crusty rolls for lunch, a bagel for a snack and for tea I had homemade bread with my meal.

So this week I am looking for alternatives. I’m afraid I can’t have a bowl of soup without bread to dunk in it, or scrambled egg without some toast to have it perch on so I’m trying to steer away from those things.

I’ve started having omelettes and fritattas for lunch and supplementing it with fruit in the day, but it’s getting BORING.

Any ideas folks?

The stats:

• Starting weight Wed. Nov.19: 168 lbs.
• Goal weight: 140 lbs.
• Weight last week: 162 lbs.
• Weight today: 162lbs
• Amount lost this week: 0lb

David Wright

Last week was a continuation of the sick bug in my house. Finally, everybody is healthy! Though I am a bit wiped out.

Let’s hope everybody stays well so I can get back on track here.

Small change this week. I lost one pound.

The stats: David Wright

• Starting weight Wed. Nov.19: 350 lbs.
• Goal weight: 250 lbs.
• Weight last week: 329 lbs.
• Weight today: 328 lbs.
• Amount gained this week: 1 lbs.
• Total lost since Nov. 19: 22 pounds

Now it’s your turn. Share your success (or setback) story with us.

If you’d like to post a Wednesday Weigh-In post on your blog and help spread the word of our goals, please do so. Get all the info on how you can participate right here.

See you downstairs in the comments – and let’s all show our support and visit anyone taking part.

Update

As always, thank you to everyone who takes part in the Wednesday Weigh-In.

Thank you!

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What is the history of YOUR every day?

“The history of every day– What is the history of every day in your case? Look at your habits that constitute it: are they the product of innumerable little cowardices and laziness or of your courage and inventive reason?”
Nietzsche – The Gay Science

Humans are creatures of habit. We do the same things, eat the same foods, hang out with the same people, go to the same places. Sometimes, those habits lead to unwelcome results.

For several years, I drank massive quantities of regular (as opposed to diet) soda every day and night. I worked at a convenience store on the midnight shift and soda was just the thing to keep me WIDE awake – and get me fat as a cow!

I LOVED soda. Still do, in fact.

However, a few years ago I was tipping the scales at nearly 400 pounds and the doctor said I needed to make some changes or I would die. When a doctor delivers such a message, you have two choices – ignore it as hyperbole or change!

I chose the latter.

Replacing bad habits with better ones

I started eating healthier foods, trying to do everything I could to avoid giving up the one thing I most wanted to cling to – soda. I hated the taste of diet soda and couldn’t imagine not drinking the regular stuff.

It wasn’t long before I realized that I had to make a change. And I did.

I made the switch and dropped nearly 50 pounds almost immediately!

Since then, I’ve been hovering at around the same weight, give or take a few pounds.

For the first time in years, I’m starting to lose weight again. 16 pounds since November!

Now I need to implement some more changes in my life.

This is a short list of things I am going to do starting today. Some of them I have been doing with various levels of success since November. However, I have yet to put it down in writing. Doing so will help me follow through on all of them, all the time.

• Limit fast food to once a week (at most)
• Take a multivitamin daily
• Drink less diet soda (I can’t give up just yet)
• Drink more water
• Exercise EVERY day
• Eat veggies and fruit EVERY day.
• Ger MORE sleep.

That last one will be the most difficult as I tend to be constantly working on several projects at once. However, without sleep, everything else is all for naught.

The quote which begins this post is one of my favorites. I don’t use quotes often because all too many of them, many on sites just like this, are full of platitudes. This quote has always struck a chord in me, though. It causes me to think when I’m more inclined to just act.

The history of every day is made up of each of our actions. It’s time to make those actions mean something, to add up to more, so our history is one which we write – not one that is written by our inaction.

So, what is the history of your every day? What new habits would you like to create?

Want a bit of humor and motivation delivered via email every weekday? Subscribe to get each BlogToFit post delivered for free! Email not your thing? That’s okay, you can also subscribe via RSS – like all the cool kids do. It’s also free. Unless you really WANT to pay us.

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New blog alert : Lisa Tries To Cook

When I was in high school, I hid my fat under jackets and several layers of shirts. Well, I thought I was hiding it, but since the jacket wasn’t magic, I was only calling more attention to myself – especially during the summer.

“Dude, it’s 98 degrees, why are you wearing a jacket?!”

I lied, telling people I was cold. The last thing I wanted to talk about was the fact that I was fat. I figured if I didn’t acknowledge it, perhaps it would go away.

One of the few people I was open with about my weight struggles was my best friend, Lisa.

She was struggling with weight, too, though at the time, she didn’t have a lot to lose. However, to a teenage girl, 20 or 30 pounds may as well be 100.

Weight loss motivation

We tried many, many, MANY times to motivate one another.

We even made huge bets with money, new clothes, and whatever else we could think of on the line. Whoever got to their goal first, would reap the rewards.

Rather than ever celebrating a victory, we usually wound up drowning our sorrows in fried mozzarella and brownie treats at the local all-night diner. And while I have many fond memories of our trips to the diner, I would much rather have been celebrating our victories.

It’s hard to believe that 20 years have passed since those days. Despite the number of years, not much has changed.

We’re both struggling with our weight, though she’s done much better than I. A couple of years ago, she competed in a marathon, a huge accomplishment that she worked very hard to achieve.

Trying to eat healthier

Recently, Lisa decided to enter the blogosphere and launched Lisa Tries to Cook. The blog details her attempts to eat healthier. She takes a recipe, makes the meal and posts before and after pictures.

Sometimes, the results are a disaster and she winds up driving to McDonalds. I joked that she could have saved a lot of time and money by just heading straight to McDonald’s to begin with. Most days, I’d rather take the easy way out than spend time experimenting in the kitchen.

But maybe that’s why I’m still fat.

Yes, I know I mentioned my own plans to try to eat healthier foods last month (which I will be starting soon). It’s a coincidence that she came up with a similar idea for her blog, as I don’t think she is reading BlogToFit (some best friend, eh?).

Anyway, check out her site, leave a comment, and maybe twist her arm to get her to join us here at BlogToFit!

Question of the day: How long have you been trying to lose weight? What kind of bets have you made? What were the results of those bets?

We welcome comments from our readers! If this is your first time commenting or if you have links in your message, it may go to into moderation until one of us releases the comment.

Want a bit of humor and motivation delivered via email every weekday? Subscribe to get each BlogToFit post delivered for free! Email not your thing? That’s okay, you can also subscribe via RSS – like all the cool kids do. It’s also free. Unless you really WANT to pay us.

Copyright 2009 BlogToFit.com. If you are reading this on any site other than BlogToFit.com or your personal feedreader or email, you may be viewing it on a site which steals content. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t trust any site which steals content.

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