Today marked the first complete month of my weight loss goal. I’m still mostly on track even though I am about 4 pounds above my goal weight tracking. I’ll attribute this to being extremely busy, having a lot of social gatherings to go to, and not working out as much as I should be.
However, I’m still 14.1 pounds down since I made a 360.0 reading on my scale and told myself “You’re a fatty, fix it” and this time meant it. I don’t mind talking about the fact that I’m fat. But it’s mostly because I’m trying to fix the situation that I got myself in. I’ve stopped with the excuses that I’ve always told myself like “Your weight has stayed the same for a long time, you’re fine” or “I’ll just have a salad for dinner” after eating half a left over pizza for breakfast/lunch (or for each).
What’s been the biggest change in myself over the last month? A: The quality of food I eat. I had to change this. No amount of working out or special shakes was going to change my weight if I kept cramming saturated fat and carbs down my over-sized gullet. I haven’t ordered a pizza in a month. I haven’t stopped at McDonald’s, Wendys, Burger King, or any other fast food place in a month. My eating has taken a 180-degree shift from where I was at before.
Grocery shopping is actually a bit more challenging now since I’m constantly scrutinizing what I’m putting in the cart (it took me 5 minutes to decide on a salad dressing). However Megan has helped this change by making sure we do meal planning based on recipes found in a few Weight Watcher’s cookbooks. We keep healthy snacks around (including vegetables). We’ve become big eaters of Jell-o which Megan usually puts in spice bowls with lids and stores in the fridge. My addiction to pickles has been a major gain to this process since they really don’t have anything to them, but I can eat a few and be good for food until the next meal.
Let’s take an example:
Last month for lunches I would usually head to the nearby Chinese buffet and eat two full plates of food. The place nearby makes good quality food, but it’s typical fare of grease, sauce, deep fried, and more grease. My breakfast used to consist of a few eggs and a piece of ham or shredded wheat. I still will have some shredded wheat periodically, but lately I’ve been fine with about 12 ounces of low-sodium V8 juice (I can’t stand the taste of regular V8) in the morning.
Just because I’ve been eating more healthy, doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Here are a few pictures of dinners that Megan has made that are healthy, but yet not diet breaking:
On the left is an orange breaded chicken. The breading was made from whole wheat crackers and orange zest. There’s sweet potato chips and dill carrots on the plate as well.
On the right is a steak made from a roast we bought at the Saint Paul Farmers’ Market. Megan mashed up cauliflower and Sweet potatoes to make a mash. Add some green beans for color and it’s a pretty healthy meal.
Megan’s also been noticing differences. Tonight she noticed that she no longer has to really try to get her arms all the way around me when she gives me a hug. My pants are fitting better (or actually less better?) since a newly purchased pair at the beginning of June is now almost unwearable because without a belt they fall off (size 44). And my size 42 shorts are on their way to doing the same.
The daily weight monitoring is still keeping me going through this process since I have to account to myself what I did/not do the day before that caused the change. There’s definitely a reason that people only weight in once a week, but I want the pretty graph.
I’m going to mention a few other people in the area that are in the same process of losing weight and making themselves more healthy:
Erica Mayer and Cindy Janovitz: They are doing a weight loss for charity water team up. You can donate here (it’s per pound of her weight loss).
Kassie Church: Fat Triathlete? That’s her… she’s gunning for it and someday she and I will match up in a raquetball match that will leave us both soaked, breathing heavy, and well… better for it.
Cheryl: She’s losing her behind… LITERALLY!
There are more and I’m starting to develop a bunch of links to resources and people going through this challenge so that I can share more.
You can check out my progress on my published Google Spreadsheet: Dez’s Weight Tracker