Weigh In

Now at 212, need to keep pushing. I feel I am losing some momentum after full fish dinner last night . At work, I splurged on potato salad this week. That was unnecessary. Did 3 times this week on the bike. Need to go 5. Keep pushing!

I've still lost 23 pounds since October. Momentum is slowing though which is very scary. Got to keep moving.

This morning's breakfast is Eggbeaters with pepper and coffee with Baileys Irish Creme!

I ordered "Low Fat Cooking for Dummies" at the library. We'll see if we get any ideas for tonight, should be good.

I am dreaming of going to The Rushes this summer and being a lot lighter.

Weigh in tomorrow. Hopefully I lost at least one pound. Could be a little scary though. Yesterday ate a little too much at lunch, cheated with potato salad at work. Got to get back today with light breakfast, light lunch and medium supper.

We may go out for fish tonight. It will have to be grilled and not breaded with little bread and salad with no cream soups.

Tips for Portion Control-These Are Excellent!

GOT THESE TIPS FROM WWW.SUITE101.COM

Save large dinner plates for special occasions. Use your salad plates for your regular meals instead. Studies show that a smaller plate tricks your brain into thinking you have more food.

Fill half your plate with low-calorie vegetables. The vegetables fill you up, and are full of colon-friendly fiber.

Use a measuring cup and water to see what portion sizes your serving utensils dish out (like your ladle and serving spoons). This makes it easier to know what you are truly dishing out ; then it is not a guessing game figuring out true portion sizes.

Use smaller eating utensils. You get more bites and you will eat more slowly. Use the smallest spoons and forks in your silverware set.

Only use your salad bowls for salad, broth type soups, and fruit. Get some small to medium ramekins for serving yourself ice cream, nuts, creamy soups, and other calorie-dense items. The small sized dish fools you into thinking you are getting more.

When eating out, get the smallest portion you can. Remind yourself that you can order more if you want to later. If that is not possible, ask for a doggie bag at the beginning of your meal and package half before you even dig in.

Eat your fruits and veggies first. They will fill you up and they are low in calories. Salad with a low-calorie dressing is a great way to start any meal.

Eat slowly and eliminate distractions. When you're first practicing this, put your fork down between bites. Turn off the TV when you eat, and try listening to soft soothing music.

Eat three meals and two snacks a day. This will keep your blood sugar from dropping, which might cause you to overeat.

Eat you calories, do not drink your calories. Drinking your calories is usually are not very satisfying and it will not keep you as full. Stick to water and unsweetened teas instead of fancy coffees, soft drinks and alcohol.

Read more at Suite101: 10 Portion Control Tips: Easy Ways to Eat Less http://www.suite101.com/content/10-portion-control-tips-a27209#ixzz1EcBT00w3

Today for breakfast coffee with Bailey's and Eggbeaters with pepper. No fat.

More tips

Another top ten list for portion control

A radio station online to listen to to help with weight loss motivation (This station veers off to the crazy spiritual stuff sometimes, but the weight loss stuff is mostly objective, smart and compassionate.)

New Weight.at 213!

Both Deb and I lost two pounds over the last week. Saturday morning weigh-in for me was 213 pounds, my lightest weight since last spring. My goal is 170 by the fall of this year. I haven't been 170 since the age of 25. That would be a huge milestone!

Today we went to the greek restaurant and Deb had a salad with diet dressing(French) and a small cup of soup, and I had an Eggbeaters Omelet with brocoli and tomatoes. I subbed hash browns in favor of fresh fruit and had rye toast with very light jelly. These are the kinds of changes we will have to hold on to day in and day out. This morning I worked out on the exercise bike for 31 minutes and did a 2-mile walk with Deb this afternoon. Right now it's diet hot chocolate in our Copperleaf cups. Hot chocolate tastes better after a walk on a cold day.

Tonight's supper? We made chicken patties and fries for Ryan and I had spinach salad, with imitation crab and beans. No fat except low fat Paul Newman's dressing.

Temptation

Today was a challenge. I started to order chips at work and then was tempted to get a bowl of chili, but I turned both down. I told the server at Cousins that I would be a hypocrite if I ordered chili or chips given my current drive to lose weight. The former Jeff would have ordered chips and chili.

There will be more temptations ahead.

Update

Today I learned about the advantages of Omega eggs, as opposed to regular eggs. Good info from Debbie. This morning I ate eggbeaters with a lot of pepper, and Debbie pointed out that there are some artificial chemicals that she would steer away from. We'll have to try Omega.

From the internet....

Omega-3 eggs are eggs that are produced by hens fed a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are crucial to take into the body since the body doesn't produce them. They are thought to be crucial for overall good health and are said to help prevent cardiovascular disease. Eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids is thought to lessen the risk of that could dangerously block arteries that connect to the heart.

Do I want to be taking more fat in? How can that be good for the heart. I think no-fat eggs are better. I want to think about lower sugar and lower fat, but fat is needed for health, a certain basic amount. I have heard that the brain needs some level of fat intake to optimally operate.

Tonight's dinner:

Small portion of halibut with lemon

Cole slaw with low fat mayo, slight amount

One medium sized baked potato with Molly Mc Butter

Sunday we cheated and had our Valentines meal at the Confucious Chinese place in Appleton. Moderation is sometimes good! Being too extreme on this stuff will only lead to a backlash.

It's a New Beginning!

I am so excited today! Debbie and I both lost five pounds. I won't mention my wife's weight on the blog, or else there may be some minor hell to pay(a joke).

We are so enthused! I am down to 215 from 220 last weekend. This morning, it's coffee and a small bowl of egg beaters with plenty of pepper for the taste. I avoided the big breakfast again. Last night was very tough, had some major hunger pangs while watching "Social Network" with Debbie and Ryan. I so much wanted that bowl of Baked Lays or that plate of salami and crackers, it felt like a physical overwhelming need for a couple of hours. After the movie, Ryan and I went down to play Foosball in the family room, which eased my hunger pains. It made me forget about food. In some sense I was taking my friend Erind's advice about losing weight, if you are hungry, "move around and do something else and you will forget about."

My friend Debbie at work has been a positive inspiration too. She has lost about 30 pounds since mid-December. Wow, a great person to network with in my opinion! Erind has also been very supportive along with an old college friend Doug, who is a chiropractor who specializes in nutritional issues. In this note, he stresses the choices me make and something called bioimpedence analysis:

I took a quick look at you weight loss blog. Congrats on the weight loss and the effort. If you want to talk about dieting give me a call sometime.
So quick hints- Stay away from diet soda- the nutrasweet breaks down into compounds that increases insulin out put which inturn increases fat storage. Just one of the reasons why diet soda makes you gain weight.
Try to eat a balanced meal including fats and protein. A low fat fig newton or oatmeal for breakfast are primarily carbs- quick digestion and insulin load where a well rounded meal- by the time the carbs are digested the fats and proteins have begun which holds off food cravings.
try to stay away from low fat stuff- they generally add sugar or salt to it to make it taste good. Excess sugar through the wonders of the body gets stored as fat so what is the point.
One of the keys is to know what you are losing in that weight loss, ie water, fat, muscle. When we start people on the weight loss programs we run a bioimpedence analysis which gives info on intracellular water, extracellular water, muscle mass and fat mass. This allows us to monitor what is being lost. You'd be surprised how many diets cause a decrease in muscle mass instead of fat thus turning down the metabolism and setting them up for rebound weight gain. Amazingly if you can kick people off the bad carbs within a few weeks the muscle mass will increase as the body is now not breaking down the muscle for energy preferentially over the fat when the carb supplies have dwindled. This, the BIA also allows us to alter the calories and types of foods they are eating if they are losing muscle mass over fat mass etc.
Good luck. If I run across any good articles I'll send them your way.

Thanks to Doug, Erind, Debbie and my parents who have been incredible supports during our efforts. :)

Update

breakfast: one banana

lunch: chinese, small container; carrots, raisins and a mandarin orange

dinner: wrap with chicken, cucumbers, bbq sauce and a small amount of cheese, very small portion of fries, and salad with fat free dressing

Today they had free sub sandwiches at work. It was tough to avoid them, but I resisted. Staying away from bread will help the weight loss success.

Calorie Counter

Nice website, you can just enter a food item and it gives you a calorie count, very cool!

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/search/hamburger

Meals Update

Monday:

Breakfast: small bowl of oatmeal

Lunch: Lean Cuisine, small orange and box of raisins

Supper: Brat with no bun, applesauce, green beans with Molly Mc Butter

Tuesday:

Breakfast: two non-fat fig newtons

Lunch: Vegetable soup, mandarin orange and box of raisins

Dinner: Wraps with pepper turkey, bbq sauce, spinach leaves, garbanzo beans and cucumbers

Update

Today had oatmeal and coffee for breakfast worked out 31 minutes on the bike. At lunch I had steamed cauliflower and a few pretzels. For supper during the Super Bowl, two slices of pizza without parmesian cheese. I had a box of raisins before bedtime and some skim milk.

I'm looking at losing at least a couple of pounds a week, will be weighing in in the morning every day as will Debbie.

Jeff

Another Day

Today's temptation will be to eat too much pizza during the Super Bowl. Debbie and I have debated about ordering Pizza Hut but will finally decide to order it mainly for Ryan and then let our will power take over, it will be a good test for will power. The old Jeff would have eaten 6 pieces of pizza, now we will have to limit ourselves to two at the most, let Ryan eat the rest. No parmesian cheese either. I had a habit of piling on the parmesian cheese.

I weighed myself this morning and I was 220 pounds. Last October I was 235, the last time I had weighed myself. I was literally afraid to do it until now. Looks like there is already a small weight loss trend in my favorite, the slight awareness before the big action I guess. Since October, I have cut out eating a pack of chocolate donuts a day at work for my 10:30am break and have cut out over indulging with lunch adding things from the vending machine. If I'm hungry for things now, I will drink water or coffee. Now that I'm eating less, I feel like I have more energy. Ironic isn't it?

I also plan to go on the exercise bike at least 4-5 times a week, at least 30 minutes as my Charter health coach advises. This is a good direction and this is just the beginning for great things happening in 2011!

Deb and Jeff's Weight Loss Tips

1) Exercise Control and Diet

2) Change Dietary Lifestyle

3) Get Used to Having A Lot of Left Overs

4) Engage Family Members for Support

5) Do Exercise That You Like

6) Don't Expect Miracles overnight. It's a Steady Slow Progress

7) Watch What you Add to Food (example Molly McButter, cinnimon, etc.)

8) Don't Overdo It!

9) Get Adequate Sleep

10) Fiber is Important (beans, whole wheat bread, prunes, fig newtons, raisins, cereal low sugar, broccoli, califlower etc.)

11) Satisfy Cravings in Other Ways (raisins instead of candy, pretzels instead of potato chips, rice cakes instead of pop tarts, etc.)

12) Fill up Stomach w/water

13) Eat Barilla or wheat-based Pasta instead of regular pasta.