Monday, November 24, 2008

Week 1 Results

As of yesterday morning (Sunday being official weigh-in day), I have lost exactly 5 lbs. I'm pretty happy about it, too. It definitely seems that my cravings are much smaller than they were early last week. In fact, yesterday MB & I (mostly MB) made sugar cookies. Ordinarily, that would have spelled doom for any type of healthy eating, but we didn't even touch them! Not even the dough! What makes this more amazing is that we were both in less-than-pleasant moods yesterday afternoon -- probably a combination of high-maintenance kids and having the AZ Cardinals get pretty badly beaten. We were primed for an emotional eating binge, but stayed away!

So, total resuls: Beginning of week 2 -- 250.8

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Day 3

So I've been doing this for three days now.  Yesterday was, by far, the worst.  I just felt hungry from the moment I got home until I went to bed, practically.  Today was better, but only after I ate three large bowls of soup.  (Mostly broth, some chicken and kidney beans in it, too.)  I've also drunk a lot of water tonight, so that might have helped.  The problem is, now I feel a bit waterlogged.  Hmmm...

Suggestions?

Measurements

So, apparently you can't have a weight-loss/fitness blog without putting some stats in.  Eventually, I will put in some more measurements (waist, neck, etc.), but until then, here's my weight.

I started  South Beach on November 16.  At that time, I was 6'1" and weighed 255.7 lbs.  Weigh-ins will be on Sundays.  I'll see if I can find a tape measure and take some other measurements (and calculate body fat) later this week.  If I can, I will post those once each month, say on the 20th.


Sunday, November 16, 2008

Gut-Hacking

I was trying to decide on a name for this blog. I thought about "I'm too damn fat" and "Roly-Poly Me," but they just didn't sound right. Then I thought about the whole purpose behind this particular blog. I don't just want hypothetical readers to keep me accountable. I want to keep track of how I'm doing for myself, too. I'm going to try different things, and I want to see how they work. It's a bit like life-hacking, but I'm not trying to make myself more productive (at least not directly). I'm trying to become more healthy. I'm gut-hacking.

About Me

Well, this is my first post on this blog. If you are reading this, I apologize -- it probably means your life sucks and you have nothing to do. Being that bored is rough.

I am obese - at least, that's what Wii Fit says every time I come within ten feet of the balance board. I like to imagine that I have more muscle than average and that, while I am by no means svelte, I don't have quite as much body fat as my BMI indicates.

I suppose, though, that exactly how tubby I am is a bit beside the point. I have lots of health reasons to try to lose weight, anyway. I have high cholesterol, both of my parents are diabetic and my mother is a survivor of colon cancer. On top of all that, I am just uncomfortable. Not just with the way I look, but physically uncomfortable. I feel out of breath often -- when I'm sitting down. I think that's because of fat deposits beneath my abdominal muscles which are pushing my guts up into my rib cage, where my lungs usually like to hang out. I am also the proud owner of a slightly herniated belly button, which is tender to the touch at lest for a couple of hours each week. My slacks don't fit, and if I have to buy even-larger pants, I'll have to punch myself in the face. I've had two back surgeries.

I'm tired of all of it. I don't think that losing a lot of weight will fix all of those problems, but I hope it will make some of them better, at least. So, I'm starting (again) on my journey to become less rotund. I started this blog not so much in the hope that people will read it, but in the hope that the fact that people might theoretically read it might (theoretically) keep me on the straight and narrow a bit more than I might otherwise be inclined to do. So, here's my plan.

My wife and I are going on the South Beach Diet. Today was our first day, and we've managed not to screw up too much. I've done it before with some success, but this is the first time that we've both tried it at the same time. I'm not going to exercise too much to begin with, but I will set weekly goals for physical activity, which will increase over time. I'm going to post every few days to update all you theoretical readers on my progress, and eventually, I'll actually reach some fitness goals. It'll be great!