The Christmas present I didn't want

I guess I will have to settle for losing 95 lbs in 8 months and not 100. Oh well.

Seriously…Of all of the days for the scale to show me that I was up, Christmas Day was not the day I was looking for. I can honestly say that I have been “perfect” on my diet for the last 200 + days. I have not had a “cheat meal” or eaten anything that was outside of my parameters.

On Christmas Eve morning I was working with a weight loss client (yes, I am starting to do weight loss coaching) and told her how she shouldn’t base all of her energy on what the scale reads, but in trust in the process.

Those words came back hard on Christmas morning to me. Of all of the days, when there is going to be food all over the place, when no one would “judge me” for eating off of my diet, on a day when I could really use motivation, the scale shows I’m up 2 pounds.

See the rest of this posting at Shrinking Dr. B.

Struggling through the Season

After losing 100 lbs, you'd think that I was on cruise mode. You’d think that I was locked in and safe.

Honestly…no.

Yes, I have eaten “clean” (not off my diet) for 232 consecutive days. That’s right – 232 days. Only twice have I gone over my calories. Once on my son’s graduation, and once on my birthday. Even then, I still ate the foods that work for my eating lifestyle, just in a little larger proportions.

People who have talked to me about my weight loss tell me that they couldn’t do it, and how proud they are of me for being so strong.

Truth is, I thought by now it would be a little easier. But it’s not...

See the rest of this posting at Shrinking Dr. B.

Progress Pics 100 lbs lost!

100 lbs lost from this time last year.

This picture is actually from May 1 to Dec 5 of this year - when most of my weight loss has occured.

I'm amazed at how far I've come, but I still have a long way to go.

But for today - I'm happy with it.

Originally posted at Shrinking Dr. B.

97.5 – Sounds like a radio station

Source

97.5 – Sounds like a radio station.

It’s hard to believe, but I’m so close to having lost 100 lbs of weight.

In September 2015, I weighed 340 lbs. When I weighed myself today (November 27, 2016), I weighed 242.5 lbs.

97.5 lbs...DAMN!

That’s a lot of weight. I have two nieces who I love to death, and neither of them weighs that much.

But I know what you are all thinking...Show me the 100! :)

My original goal was 250 by Christmas – blew through that one in early November. So then my goal was 240 by Christmas – and it looks like I will...

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Good intentions vs Imperfect Action

Originally posted at Shrinking Dr. B.

What does it mean to you?

Recently I was teaching a small group of 14 year olds about how they can learn to analyze a situation more intelligently. While I don’t know if they got the concept I was trying to get across, I hope that somewhere in their minds they stored this simple phrase…

“It’s never the event – it’s always the interpretation”.

I hope that it will come back to them at a time when they need it most in their lives. I sincerely believe that’s why we teach youth – it’s not that they will understand it right now, but at some point in the future they will...

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How do you know when you are ready?

How do you know when you are ready?

Life has a way of changing on us. In the musical Jekyll and Hyde there is a song that contains the lyrics “The Only Thing Constant Is Change”. Never were truer words spoken.

But how do you know if you are ready for the change that is coming? I recently had a friend become a parent for the first time. Before the birth, I shared with him my philosophy that you are never truly “ready” for parenthood, because you have no idea what life is going to throw at you.

I certainly was not ready to become a parent. I was not ready on the day of my son’s birth to be confronted with the harsh reality of congenital heart disease. I certainly was not ready for him to....

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The Power of Rituals

The power of rituals.

I wrote over the weekend about the sanctity of time. An hour wasted can never be reclaimed.

But how do you spend/invest your time?

Sometimes we decide to spend our time in fun. Sometimes we invest it in work. Sometimes time is taken from us by responsibilities we have agreed to, which I feel is like...

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Stand and deliver – your money or your…time?

Stand and deliver – your money or your…time?

I’m sure that you are thinking to yourself ‘that’s not right’. It’s ‘your money or your life’.

Well, what is your life if it is not your time. If you have no time, you have no life left. Game over. End of the line. Termination.

But which is more valuable to you…

See the rest of this post at Shrinking Dr. B.

Perfection is deadly, but deadlines are perfect.

Perfection is deadly, but deadlines are perfect.

How many times have you looked at something and found fault with that which is "good enough"?

How many times have you been stalled in your pursuit of a dream, a desire or a passion, simply because you thought your efforts were not "perfect".

How often have you walked away from something you could be great at, because you were afraid you would get things wrong?

Stop it now.

Resolve instead to set deadlines, and...

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Goal of 100 lost by Christmas (AKA it’s all about the numbers)

Back in the early part of the year, I set myself a goal of weighing 250 pounds by Christmas.

That was before I started eating to a Ketogenic diet, and I had no concept of how I could actually achieve my goal, given my failure at losing weight before. Truth be told, I wasn’t even sure I could do it, but I knew I wanted to.

After starting Keto, I calculated that I could reach 250 pounds earlier than that, and...

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Out with the Old and in with the Older?

One of the great things about losing weight is watching the scale show you lower and lower numbers. At 5 ½ months, I am down around 75 pounds. I never thought it was possible, but I am actually enjoying losing weight, and I do not feel like I am depriving myself at all.

One of the things that has been a surprise is how fast I am going through clothes. When I started back on May 2, I was wearing a size 50 pants and 4-5X shirts. I am actually fitting currently into a pair of jeans that are a size 40, and I have realized that I am over halfway to my goal of a 34 inch waist.

But going through clothes so quickly has a downside...you end up with...

See the rest of this post at Shrinking Dr. B.

80 lbs lost!

I have lost over 80 lbs!

Over half-way to my goal of 180 lbs. Last September I weighed 340 lbs. No idea of how I was going to make it happen, but I knew I need to change.

As you know, in May of this year I started the Ketogenic Diet (should be called a lifestyle, because diets end, this won't) and now I'm down 70 lbs since the start of May of this year, and over 80 lbs overall.

I'm half-way through, but this is...

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Progress Pics: 4 Months on Keto

reddit/r/keto

Picture on the left is May 1, 2016.
Picture on the right is September 3, 2016.

This is 4 months and 60 lbs.

Originally posted at Shrinking Dr. B.

Halfway Point

Almost halfway:

That sounds crazy. Almost halfway through losing a whole person (I guess losing 160 pounds could be considered a whole person).

I was just tracking some food in MFP and I realize that having lost 78 pounds from my highest weight of 340 pounds last September I am two pounds away from hitting my halfway point. My goal is to weigh 180 pounds which I know is going to take a long time. Realizing that I am halfway there is....

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Faith in the Journey

One of the psychological problems in trying to lose a lot of weight is that you eventually find yourself in what feels like no man’s land.  It is like you have lost sight of the shore and while you have faith that there is land across the ocean, right now all you see is water all around you and it’s disconcerting.

At this point I am down almost 60 pounds since starting a ketogenic diet (Keto). In another 10 pounds I will actually be down 80 from my highest of 340. 80 pounds is halfway between 340 and my goal of 180. I thought getting halfway would be mind blowing, but it is...

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Sometimes a Long Journey...

They say that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. After you have taken those first steps you need to keep doing it, even when you do not seem to have made much progress towards your destination.

For me, 340 pounds was the start of that journey, with the eventual destination being 180-190 pounds. That is a lot of weight to lose, and it is a long journey.

Carrying 150 pounds of excess weight is like having a person on your back the entire day. You are more tired, and everything hurts. You hate how you look, you hate how you feel, and you pretty much hate yourself.

On a journey of this length it helps to have intermediate goals; little things to celebrate along the way to help you stay motivated.

So I am excited to be able to say that I have finally broken through the 50 pound weight loss goal. When I weighed in this morning I was 286.4, which is over 50 pounds lost from my highest weight in September last year. While I can tell I am losing weight (clothes are looser and I had to put another notch in my belt) reaching that 50 pounds lost is huge for me psychologically. The last 3-5 weeks have been incredibly stressful both professionally and personally, but somehow I have found the strength and the discipline to keep losing weight.

So now it is on to the next goal. Christmas Day is 22 weeks from today. My goal is to be at 240 pounds by then, which will be 100 pounds lost overall. I need to lose about 2 pounds a week for that to happen. While I am doing well with my food and nutrition goals, I need to start building in some exercise to help work on my strength and stamina.

Today, I am just going to be grateful for where I am at. I still have a long way to go, but I am about a third of the way there, and for today, that is enough.

First Milestone...Accomplished

First milestone accomplished.

So after eight weeks on a ketogenic diet, I am happy to say that I am finally under 300 pounds for the first time in probably three years.

At this point, I am down about 30 pounds in around eight weeks. It is a little more than I expected I would be losing, and I have to play with my food intake a little bit to try and bring that down to around 3 pounds a week, but so far I am really happy with the progress.

I will need to go clothes shopping in a couple of weeks, because without a belt now most of the pants I am wearing will not stay up at all. I have even had to go back to using a belt that I gave up on about a year ago.

I have also managed to fit back into my largest wedding ring (I have four, because I was 168 when Holly and I got married almost 20 years ago). It is nice to be able to wear it without worrying about being able to remove it if necessary.

So I am trying to work out what I should do to reward myself for the first 30 pounds, and also trying to set a reward for the next goal, which is 250 by Christmas.

Any thoughts on what I should do?

The Courage to Start Again

Most people who know me know that I have struggled with my weight all my life. 

There have been times that I have been successful in losing weight, only to fail and put it all back on again.

In 2012, I did the 60 day juice fast and went from 294 pounds down to 217 pounds.  I thought I had found the answer to my problems.  I ended up putting it all back on and more, eventually weighing my highest at 340 pounds.

So why try again? Why try when multiple times in my life I have lost a significant amount of weight only to put it back on again?  Each time costing me more of my self-esteem as the failures mount one after another.

I think part of it is the realization that I only really fail if I stop trying.  I live with the hope that someday I can find a way through this problem and be happy where I am at.

I have learned recently that sometimes you have to take a long hard look at yourself and be brutally honest about what you find, even though it is painful.

So why start again? Because if I do not, nothing changes.

So I have started the keto diet, also known as ketogenic diet.  Mainly it is a balance of fats and proteins, and very little carbs. I have cut out milk, soda, bread, pasta, cookies, pizza and anything else that contains carbohydrates. I watch my macro intake (protein/fat/carbohydrates) and my calorie intake at My Fitness Pal (an online tracking program).

So far I am down to around 24 pounds in about six weeks, averaging out at about 4 pounds a week. A little higher than I probably ought to, but right now there is some balance there so I am going to work with it.

Because if I do not, nothing changes. Time passes, frustration mounts, regret builds and dreams die.

That is unacceptable to me, so I start again.

Wish me luck.