Weight Loss 2.0

It's close to 10 years since I changed up my eating & lifestyle habits. Over the course of the intervening years I managed to loose a fair amount of weight - sub 290 at times - as well as gain some back.

At this 10 year mark there are a number of positive changes that are still with me:

• I eat a fair amount of healthy, prepared from scratch meals/food
• A good portion of my food is from a CSA - organic & locally grown
• Refined sugar from drinks and food is absent from most of my daily diet
• Exercise is part of my weekly - if not daily - routine:
• bicycle 17 miles 3x/week during the spring-summer-fall
• swim a mile or more 2-3 times/week during the winter - all at once or in stages
• perform HIIT intervals 2-3 times/week using hand weights, medicine balls, kettle bells, and sometimes just body weight
• Overall my health numbers are good - blood pressure, cholesterol, A1C, etc - all in normal range

Some new things that I'm doing:

• I track my activity, exercise, etc w/an Apple watch
• I hit my activity goal most days, except for the weekend
• I work with a health coach - doing that over the last 2 years

Some not so good things:

• I find myself close to where I was in April of 2010 - 318'ish lbs
• Processed food has made its way back into my diet at least once per week
• I go through periods of snacking on refined sugar treats, peanut M & Ms mainly
• I've gotten away from AB's "list", i.e. every day foods, 3x/week, 1x/week
• Alcohol consumption has increased a fair amount
• Nutrient dense food makes up less of my diet - no avocados, fiber supplements (flax seed, psyllium husks)
• Gotten away from green tea & soy milk and back to coffee, milk
• Processed grains - flour from home made bread, etc are in my diet
• I don't write about what I'm doing/seeing/trying

Those are the major ones - there may be a few others but those popped into my head as I re-read entries from 2009 - 2011.

My health coach encourages me to set weekly goals and then about every 3 months set some more longer term goals. Mainly I've focused on staying on my exercise routine or goals related to it - how far to bike, swim, etc and some food related goals. What I've noticed is that exercise alone won't get me to loose weight - I need to recapture the food practices that helped me go from 351 to sub 290. I need to set weight goals to accompany the exercise and food changes.

For 2019 I'm challenging myself to the following:

1. Incorporate nutrient dense foods & supplements into my daily diet
2. Incorporate daily servings of fruits and veggies into my daily diet
3. Minimize daily intake of refined sugar snacks and drinks, e.g fruit juice
4. Keep eating out and/or processed foods to no more than once per week
5. Keep hitting my activity goal of 1k calories/day
6. Decrease alcohol consumption
7. Drink green tea daily
8. By this time next year, be at or below 290
9. Write about what I'm feeling, seeing, experiencing, learning

I'll probably ask myself at some future date, why now, why again, what motivated you to do this - admittedly - again. Photographs. Over the holidays I was in front of the camera instead of behind it and the images I saw of myself were not what I wanted to see. Although I'm not as large as I was at 351, it's no longer moving in the correct direction. Maybe I should do that more often, hummm...

Familiar Refrain

I know this is going to sound really repetitive but I'm trying to get back on the weight loss path again. As it turnes out I did make my goal for the end of January by hitting 291.5 - from which I promptly zoomed right back up to 303!! So frustrating!!

Based on what I see, loosing large amounts (more than 4 lbs) of weight in a short period of time - like 2 weeks - is a recipe for gaining it all back. Although I set myself a goal for loosing 1.5-2 lbs/week I had to cram a lot of that loss into a short period of time - post cruise it was like 2.5 weeks. Add to that my excuse making that it was too cold to walk (temps in the teens isn't really inviting) and it's no wonder I found myself at 303 come the first day of March.

What's a XXLXT to do? Try it again, but this time stay to the 1.5 - 2 lbs per week. So I set myself another goal that by the end of March, the 29th to be exact I'd weigh 297. Today's the day and I weigh exactly 297! Gratz!! My feeling is that in order to continue to loose 1.5 lbs per week I'm really going to need to work at this. The warmer weather (well now only in the upper 20's at night) and the spring change over to more veggies will help.

What I feel I need to work on is being consistant with my eating, i.e. no late night binging, cut out the discretionary sugar, watch the nut intake and stick to AB's eating guide lines. I have vacation starting April 15 where I'll be traveling to visit Mom for a week or so. By April 12 I'd like to be 294 and then hold that weight through the 26th. I'll start the clock again at that point.

After I lost that initial 50+ lbs I really felt great! Since then it's been a "brick wall" never seeming able to get below about 286. I still feel good about loosing the weight but I'm unsatisfied with this "yo-yo" weight process. I'm never going to get over this hump with out some discipline. I know it's in me. It's just a matter of want.

Get Busy

So far meeting my target of begin at 291.5 lbs by months end is not going well. Between the cruise, weather, special events, and not totally staying on track, I'm not loosing the 1.5 lbs per week that I wanted. Depressing? Yes. Unexpected? No.

But perhaps I need to change my expectations. I know I can loose this but I'm not making the same type of concerted effort I made last year. When I sit an eat 2 pieces of birthday cake and claim its a "special occasion" that's a far cry when I would have eaten 1 or 1/2 a piece last year. How many "special occasions" am I allowed before I'm just totally off this?

I'm really going to try between now and next Tuesday (the end of the period) to stay on track. I'm not going to starve myself but I'm really going to try to return to what I was doing a year ago when I first started this program.

There's a phrase from "The Shawshank Redemption" that captures my mood. Tim Robbins' character says: Get busy living or get busy dying. I'll turn that to be: Get busy loosing or get busy gaining. It's my choice.

Playing Catch-up

First day back from our 7 day cruise I weighed in at 298.5 lbs - back where I started the year - *sigh*. Oh well, back on the program again. I did walk for 1 hour 3 of the 7 days on the cruise but as the week wore on I was walking a lot in port and opted to skip the track. Probably a bad idea.

At any rate, today being Wednesday I'm at 297 lbs and 21% of the way to my weight goal for January. I'll have to really keep on track if I'm going to hit the target. The current snowy/icy weather is not permitting much evening walking but I am getting a lot of shoveling exercise in. I'm not going to force the weight loss. It'll either come off by my normal eating pattern or not but I'm going to do anything different.

Reviewing and Progressing

One side benefit of including weight loss details, like calorie counts, in blog posts is that they serve as a record not only of results, but also of how. In reviewing entries from 2010 I noticed a few things:

• I was eating more fruit in the beginning and less as time wore on
• I was having trouble managing the 3x per week load
• I stuck pretty well to the "never eat" list
• Other than alcohol, the no more than once per week list has been managed well

While I intend to do some more spelunking in the 2010 posts, I'm struck by the first 2 items. In the time since I've plateaued, I'm doing better with the 3x per week list (yogurt, broccoli, avocados, and oily fish) than when I started out. I'm still not a sweet potato fan, but I'm doing well with the others. 

In the beginning I think I was just doing the oily fish 3x per week and some of the yogurt but none of the others. Broccoli and avocados were added sometime over the spring when I was having lower GI issues and stopped eating oranges, kiwis and pineapple. I'm not certain what caused the GI issues and they have subsided to some extent, but the high fruit content stopped. Perhaps I'll try returning to it over the winter like last year.

Per usual Wednesday has rolled around and I've jumped down to 295. That's not unusual for midweek. It's the Thursday - Sunday time frame that gets me off track. As I head into that period, I'm resolved not to break what I've started again. That said, I'm also heading into the beginning of my Cruise week so we'll see how it goes. For my HR weigh challenge I've lost 50% of the weight (3.5/7 = .5) I targeted. Toward my 1-2 lbs per week reminder, I'm not looking to loose any more this week. If it happens, it happens, but I want to be at least 296.5 on Monday of next week.

In the spirit of detail keeping, I'm also experimenting with a new pre-dinner experiment. I've wanted to "get more into wine" as part of 2011 and have decided to try 1 (yes just 1) glass of wine (~ 5 oz) with some bread and cheese. The bread I'm making myself over the weekend and the cheese I'm using is decent quality stuff. I'm concerned it'll be too much, but I'm doing this instead of munching "free form" on nuts, etc. Perhaps eating a measured amount of good tasting stuff will keep me from bindging on the not-so-great stuff, at least in quantity. 

One final review item I picked up: the more I blogged, the more consistant and downward trending was the weight loss.. humm...

A Year On

Here it is the first week of 2011 and I'm lighter by nearly 50 lbs than I was at this time last year. Officially at 298.5 lbs. The holidays "forced" me to put on more weight than I wanted. At my lightest, I was 284 - about 15 lbs from where I am now and 4 lbs then from the 280 lb goal - and unable to take that next step.

Still, 2010 was a good year for me. I'm lighter, in better shape and can honestly say that I'm all the better for it despite my 15 lb weight gain from my low point. I'm thrilled that I've lost the weight and disappointed that I can't seem to loose more.

On the plus side, I can see that geting back on the "live and let diet" eating cycle will cause the weight to come off. My problem is that I can't seem to stay on it. I end up eating a few handfulls of this, some of that, and before you know it I'm hauling down a Pop-Tart and a glass of milk. And when I do manage to break the cycle, I end up getting discouraged by not not loosing more than I feel I should.

I feel I have more weight to loose, the hard part is staying true to the goal and not just being satisfied with the nearly 50 I've lost. In looking back at my 2010, I had some goals - see myself, be at 317, 299, 290, etc. Some of those goals were pretty big - like seeing myself. I had no idea how far I had to go or how close I was to 330. Now I see myself daily and can measure progress (more recently lack there of). I hit most of them by loosing 1-2 lbs a week. Somehow during the year I expected to start loosing more per week - big jumps, perhaps in thinking I needed to catch up for the "yo-yo" effect.

I tried jogging (not me), tried eating new items (more yogurt, granola, etc), and all the while expected large per week jumps in weight loss. Perhaps my expectations got the better of me over the summer and (perhaps) what I need to do is return to the expectations I had last year when I started seeing results: That by staying true to how I was eating and putting in my body I can expect to loose a little bit of weight over time. I'd be happy to loose 5-7 lbs in a month, 15 lbs in 3 or so and not let my expectations get the better of me in the short run. It's a long haul game and I need to play it like that.

So to start 2011 I have 2 interesting items: (1) I have a cruise to go on the second week of January. (2) the HR dept at work is issuing a "weight loss accountability" challenge - report on your percentage progress toward a goal. Do I take that as a challenge to try and stick to my 1-2 lbs per week weight loss and shoot for 6-7 lbs lost in January (back being 290 or so) while at the same time doing a cruise?? Last cruise I lost 3 lbs by exercising, taking the stairs and watching what I ate.

I think I'm up to a January challenge to be 290 come the end of the month.

Dog Days of Summer

Here it is August and I see that then entire month of July evaporated with out a post. Between enjoying the outdoors during our brief New England summer and vacations, posting has not been on my mind.

On the exercise front I started jogging during part of my walking route. About 1/3 of the way is a slow to moderate jog while the rest is "recovery" walking. Although I had great hopes for this in early June, July's heat wave forced me from this new routine. I hope to get back into walking/jogging more regularly when the weather starts to cool again.

On the weight side I'm down to about 290 (give or take a pound or 2 - darn scale). That's 7 lbs in about 6 weeks or so. Not bad for summer time, traveling and out door gatherings. I feel pretty good about a pound a week.

That mark also (finally) puts me past the 50 lb loss mark! So I guess I need a new goal - I'm thinking 280 would be a good target. I've got a 5 lb head start on the goal and hitting it would be 65 lbs gone! My target date is Oct 31. That gives me some padding in case I plateau out.

As far as eating patterns go, I'm getting a little tired of my current lunch rotation - salad with either fruit/avocado or sardines. I'm going to try using tuna instead of sardines and work the avocado in some other way. 6 months of salads is about to drive me nuts!

The Process Continues

Not much to report this week. I'm down to 297 lbs this week. I seem to have gotten past the 30x weigh-point.

I think picking up my daily walking helped move me past that point. I'm trying to walk for 1 hour every evening if it's not raining out. So far I've only missed 1 night in 10 days. On Saturday's I end up walking in the AM and route myself so I end up at the Farmer's Market toward the end of my walk. I end up doing some veggie shopping and bring home local produce. Not a bad way to get in both exercise and healthy eating at the same time.

There and Reconciled

The other week when I was at the Dr's office I weighed myself on their scales - 310 lbs. That morning at home in nothing but a smile I weighed 304. That evening when I got home I weighed myself again in the same atire I had on at the Dr's office and low and behold weighed 310.5! So my scale is nearly dead on with the Dr's scale. It also means that loosing 50 lbs means I'll need to be at about 295 or so when wearing only my smile since that 351 was fully clothed. What's an extra 6 lbs? Ug!

No matter, I'm only 3.5 lbs away from that mark now. Yes loyal fan base I've hit 298.5 lbs and pushed through my latest goal of 299 - Huzzah!! I think the next goal is a "reconciliation" goal to get the weigh loss goals alined with reality. Next stop 294. That'll be 51 lbs lost no matter which scale and what clothes I'm wearing. Hopefully I can hit that before July 4th!

Numbers

There's really one number that I've been concentrating on during this odyssey and that's the one that shows up on the scale - 303.5 lbs. this week. However there are another set of numbers that need watching - cholesterol, triglycerides, HDLs, LDLs, etc.

I've been on Lipitor for a long time and it's been managing my levels, but they were never really great. Just marginal. The last time I had those numbers checked was about when I started this blog. Although I don't recall what my cholesterol levels were I do remember that my triglycerides were 417! Naturally the Dr told me I need to make a change and suggested banding - that went nowhere.

In order to renew my Lipitor and blood pressure medications I need to have the blood fat levels run each year. So this year I was really anxious to see the results. After reading them I feel like a kid with a great report card!

• cholesterol - 110, should be less than 200
• triglycerides - 136, should be less than 150
• HDL cholesterol - 34, under 40 is low, however this is primarily a function of genetics
• LDL cholesterol - 49, under 100 is best

So, with the exception of the HDL cholesterol levels things are looking rather outstanding. I can't believe the change in diet has had such a dramatic effect on the other numbers that my Dr and I care about. Ya the bottom weight/waist line is important too, but knowing that the eating I'm doing has such a positive impact on my blood chemistry is a nice bonus.

Weight To Believe

I don't know if I've written about this yet but I've been experiencing some mild to sever GI distress over the last 4-6 weeks. 'Nuf said. At any rate I finally decided to see my physician about it, but while I was in the office I took the opportunity to weigh myself on their scale - just for grins and giggles. 314 lbs. I was fully clothed, carrying my wallet, keys, and wearing boots not to mention it was late in the day. Somehow I don't think all that weights 8 lbs - 4 perhaps but certainly not 8.

Also that day I weighted myself at home early in the morning wearing nothing but a smile - 299 lbs. WHAT! Wait, that can't be right. Off and on for a couple of minutes and it really only varied by 1 lb, call it 299.5 lbs. I could not have lost 6 lbs in 1 week. No way, no how (have I mentioned I hate my home scale?).

This AM I weighed myself again - 304.5 lbs which is closer to reality for my home scale. So I guess I'll go with what got me here - using my home scale. And while I'm sure that my clothing and on-person paraphernalia add a few pounds and that I gain some weight during the day, I'm not prepared to believe that it's in the 8-10 lbs range.

Have I really lost weight? My physician's nurse noticed the weight loss and asked me about it, but I already knew I looked different. The real question is how much. At a minimum I've lost 24.5 lbs since I've been able so see my weight on my home scale. I had to loose some to get there however. The last "official" weight I had was 351 lbs on the Dr's scale. That's the upper bound. At 314 lbs on the office scale I've lost 37 lbs - nothing to sneeze at but not the 46.5 lbs that I believe I've lost according to the 351 upper bound and my current home scale reading of 304.5. There's a difference of 9.5 lbs somewhere (did I mention I hate my home scale).

My long term goal is to loose 100 lbs. I feel I'm close to 1/2 way according to my home scale but I can't account for the nearly 10 lbs I saw the other day on my Dr's scale. Even if I'm a little further away from the 1/2 way point I still feel good about where I'm at, what I've accomplished and how the process is going.

It's all good!

Calorie Sampling

Breakfast - 209 calories

• Fruit Smoothie - 200 calories (3 oz each of blueberries, strawberries, berry mix, 1/2 banana, and 4 fl oz each of light soy milk, V8 fusion light)
• Green Tea - 4 calories (16 oz loose leaf brewed in tap water)
• Psyllium Husk Fiber Supplement - 5 calories (1 tsp in 8 oz of tap water)
• Vitamin/Mineral Supplement - 0

Lunch - 565 calories

• 2 cups spring mix greens - 10 calories
• 1 cup baby arugula - 10 calories
• 1 red pear - 100 calories
• 1 orange - 69 calories 
• 1 avocado - 276 calories
• 2 tbsp Key Lime-Dijon Vinaigrette dressing - 100 calories

Total - 774 calories

Weight Honesty

To be honest I think I was more passionate about the weigh issue when I couldn't see my weight on the scale. Since then I've been doing nothing but (*gasp*) loosing weight every week. To be fair I've not been entirely honest about my progress. I did start out writing what I weighed every week and to be fair to myself there isn't a weigh there that wasn't on the scale. My fudging has actually been on the under-reporting side - ya, I actually tend to weigh a little less than what I've been saying on a weekly basis.

My "reasoning", if you can call it that, was so I could "feel" I made weight loss progress even if I didn't for a given week. Turns out so far I haven't needed that under-padding. Every week I've lost about 1-2 lbs but now there's a large gap - like 5.5 lbs worth that will be hard to report on. Better just own up to whatever the scale says instead of fudging a higher weight - sounds silly.

In that spirit the scale said 306.5 lbs this morning. I don't believe that's actually correct since it's also said 308 but repeated weighting kept saying 306.5 so I guess I'll have to go with that. Hopefully I won't find out the scale lied to me and I'm actually 308 and change. I hate and am afraid not to loose something per week. I don't want to plateau and have to debug what's going on.

So, we're nearly at 45 lbs. lost and I'm really proud of myself for that. I may need to get a new belt soon, not to mention more new pants, since I'm also closing in on 4 inches off my waste line. I stared out as a snug 46 and am now a loose 44. I have a pair of old corduroys size 42 that I want to be able to comfortably slip on. They are really out of style but it's a clothing goal.

Old Clothes, New Feelings

Reaching in the back of the closet the other morning I discovered a pile of my clothes that I had not seen in ages. Evidently my wife put some "too small" pants and a few "too narrow" shirts away for safe keeping as I moved up the scale. For kicks I decided to give them a whirl and found that a couple of the pants and most of the shirts were now wearable, although horribly out of style. It made me feel really good that I'm making progress despite the fact that they are headed to the textile recycling bin at the dump next week.

Also as I look at myself in the mirror I see that my face is no longer as round as it was, but square to angular. I recognize the eyes looking back at me, but the face seems strange. There are other parts of my upper anatomy that look strangely new to me as well; my neck, shoulder muscles, arms and hand are showing definition (and age) that was hidden. It makes me wonder about the body that will emerge over time. I'm not going as far as the butterfly in the cocoon but that's the image that pops in to my head.

All this is getting me paranoid that I'll hit some plateau and not loose any more weigh, give up and regain it all. That's my greatest fear at this point. Still at 312 lbs. this week - 39 lbs total in just 4+ months! - I would be happy to maintain this status for a time. I don't want to sound satisfied but I am happy/ecstatic with my progress. Never the less I want to hit that next milestone of 299! It feels close and reachable now.

I feel as if I've crossed some threshold on the way down that I can loose as much as I want by managing how much and what I eat, and feel that I can manage it. I feel good about the food I'm putting in me, even as I feel I can eat less of it. It feels somewhat like when I kicked smoking - a feeling that I could manage it from here on out. I don't feel as "attached" to food as I used to be. Its there to nourish, provide some "spice" to life, a setting to enjoy with others but not something I'm focused on as I once was. It's a much better feeling!

Moving On Down

After a week at my moms and a bout with what appears to be an intestinal virus, I'm somewhere between 314 and 316 lbs - I hate my bathroom scale! We'll call it 316 lbs and be done with it. I'm quite sure having the intestinal virus helped with the weigh loss since I ate more than I needed to on vacation - Krystal's (only 4 during the entire trip though) and Red Pig BBQ (I can never resist).

Still, I was able to stay away from McDonald's while on the road and when we ate out at Fatz. I had fish, rice and veggies instead of beef and potatoes. I mostly stuck to my breakfast smoothie and salads for lunch. Dinner was almost like being at home - fish, pasta, chicken, etc. I think I only had beef one night (well except for the Krystal's). I made sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast for mom and I a couple of mornings. For snacking in the car I took Kashi granola bars, watter, and redskin peanuts. All in all not too bad - I didn't gain any and ended up loosing 2.5 lbs since my last weigh-in.

So at 316 lbs - 35 total pounds lost - I'm ready for my next goal - 299 lbs. That would put me 52 lbs down. Looking back I see that it's taken me a bit longer than a month to loose 10 lbs. Perhaps I can hit 299 by July 4th (sooner would be better!)

Close Enough to Taste It

This week finds me at 318.5 lbs. If I were not visiting my mother next week, I would think that the next goal was within reach. Alas, my mother always goes out of her way to feed me well while I'm there, but she also has plenty for me to do - help in the garden, with the lawn, the odd chores around the house, etc.

On the bright side, I let her know that I've lost 30 lbs so we've been talking about "AB's lists". Perhaps that'll help with the food intake. That and I got her a IngenuiTea tea pot with a green tea sampler for her birthday. I do have ulterior gift giving motives at times - I didn't want to have to take mine with me.

There's another factor at play here - I'm driving down with my wife and son. Long Drives = Snack Food. It's 18+ hours from where I live here in the north east to where she is in the south. I'm planning on making a healthy dinner to eat on the road for Friday evening as we leave but that leaves all day Saturday to fight the snacking urge. Nothing to do but drive and snack. Besides the obvious choice of nuts and granola bars, what else can I find to snack on? I also dread the "fast food" for lunch (and maybe breakfast). All in all I'll need to do some advance planning for Saturday not to mention the return trip home.

My goal is to maintain the weight I have and not get sucked into having high sugar snacks, fast food, cookies and pies, which is what usually happens when I visit Mom - she's a great cook!

Calorie Sampling

Breakfast - 209 calories

• Fruit Smoothie - 200 calories (3 oz each of blueberries, strawberries, berry mix, 1/2 banana, and 4 fl oz each of light soy milk, V8 fusion light)
• Green Tea - 4 calories (16 oz loose leaf brewed in tap water)
• Psyllium Husk Fiber Supplement - 5 calories (1 tsp in 8 oz of tap water)
• Vitamin/Mineral Supplement - 0

Morning Snack - 140 calories

• Kashi Trail Mix granola bar - 140 calories (1 bar)

Lunch - 457 calories

• 2 cups spring mix greens - 10 calories
• 1 cup baby arugula - 10 calories
• 1 kiwi - 25 calories
• 2 clementines - 46 calories 
• 1 avocado - 276
• 2 tbsp balsamic dressing - 90 calories

Dinner - 458 calories

• Steelhead Trout w/butter and wine - 215 calories
• orange glazed carrots -  199
• 1/4 cup couscous - 44

Evening Snack - 170 calories

• redskin peanuts - 170 calories

Total - 1434 calories

Trac Check

I'm creping up on 4 months since I changed my eating habits. As I've noted, 4 months on any "new thing" is about all I can sustain before lapsing back into old ways. In some ways I can feel this pulling at me. I've drifted away somewhat from trying to maintain the "everyday" list and even unconsciously ordered fast food when the family decided to have Taco Bell - I did try one of the burritos from the "drive through diet" menu. That by itself violated 2 of the "don't eat" list items - fast food and any item with the word "diet" in it.

But I didn't shoot myself over it. I acknowledged what happened decided that it wasn't catastrophic and went on. Eating that "diet" burrito wasn't "wrong" or "bad" it was just something I ate. I enjoyed it, we had a great family evening meal together and that was better than sticking 100% to any plan.

Still I'm finding more variations that I'd like as I get closer to the 4 month line. I'm making measurable progress and now that it is warmer out I've added walking back into the mix - as long as it's above 40 and not raining, I'll walk for an hour in the evening.

On the plus side I'm getting used to the avocado, fruit and greens for lunch, but at the expense of everyday carrots in a salad. Broccoli is become at least a once a week thing. Still no soda, I'm eating breakfast every day, I'm spending more time and money in the fruit and veggies section of the store, sweets are way down. I feel best about the "no more than once per week list".

I think it is time to watch the "Live and Let Diet" episode again to refresh my memory - I have it saved on DVR. It's also time to remind myself that I have lost enough weight to see myself on the scale, which is a huge accomplishment for me. My weight loss continues at about 1-2 lbs per week - this week I'm at 321.5 lbs. I've  lost nearly 30 lbs and have 4.5 to go to hit my next goal of 317.

I'm trying to look past the 4 month line to see myself as a "thin-er" person. So far it's looking better than it has in a long time.

Downward Trend Side Effects

Another aspect of the new eating pattern is I’ve been able to impose parts of the lists on my family. Since I do the meal planning and grocery shopping I inflict the “1 meat and 1 pasta per week” rule on my family as well as putting more healthy food in their way – veggies, nuts, better snack foods, etc.

Obviously I can’t control what happens for breakfast and lunch, but by stocking the pantry with the foods I’m eating, they can either eat what I am or go out of their way to ask for special food.  My son for instance has started eating the Kashi Honey Flax Granola bars, yogurt, and drinking V8 Fusion Lite. He doesn’t need to lose any weight but I’m feeling better knowing he’s eating more than pizza, canned soup and Beefaroni. My daughter, who’s skinny as a rail, is also eating the yogurt and more fresh veggies. She doesn’t always like what I’m making for a main course, however.

The most interesting change is my wife who, while still drinking her daily dose of Diet Pepsi (can’t get her to give that up), is eating the same dinner I’m eating. Again, lunch is up to her, but it’s easier to “go with the flow” than against it. She’s cut out the frozen pizza she was having for lunch and taking leftovers. And while she has dessert more than once per week, it’s down from what it was mainly because I force her to share my left over weekend concoctions with her co-workers.

The result of that is her weight is down 10 pounds or so and she’s not “dieting”. Yesterday she showed me that she was able to wear pants that had become “too small” for her at some point – pants that were her favorite. She said “whatever that thing is that you’re doing with the food, it's working”.

So it’s nice to know that my family is eating more healthy items, and that the new regimen is having a positive effect on my wife’s waistline. It was getting kind of lonely there on this eating change all by my lonesome.

Oh and before I let “Weigh in Wednesday” get away from me, the scale indicated I’m at 323 this morning – 28 pounds down, 6 to go to the next goal of 317!

Say "Less" to Sugar

I attribute at least some of the weight loss progress I'm making to watching my sugar intake. I try to eat things that are low in refined sugar. I also stay away from high fructose corn syrup (and derivatives) as well.

This morning I ran across this post on the Sugar Content of Common Food Products.  About the only thing on that list that is even close to being in my repertoire is the Tropicana orange juice. I don't have it often but it is in my refrigerator and my son and daughter drink it.

I drink at least 4 oz of V8 Fusion every day. It has no added sugar or high fructose corn syrup but the sugar content per 8 oz is a whopping 26 grams! Perhaps I'll switch to the "light" version which only has 10 grams of sugar per 8 oz serving . The "light" version only has 50 calories instead of 110. Bonus!