As you take two seconds to glance over at my smiling face, you can tell that fitness hasn't been a concern of mine for quite some time. In fact, my last major "fitness goal" that I had on the books came nearly 7 years ago when I started riding road bikes to ride from Seattle to Portland after a challenge from a friend. Well, that was long ago and far away, but the last time I was actually in shape, the second Bush was in office and Bad Day was rocking the Billboard Music Charts. I tipped the scales at a low of 190 pounds that summer and was playing golf once or twice a week. 2006 was a long time ago, and life has done everything it can to get in my way between now and then, but last week started a new commitment to getting back to a being a bit healthier. Here's my week one recap.
Working out isn't a huge option for me right now. Being upwards of 300 pounds really limits what you can and can't do as far as gym activities go, but the first step is reeling in the nutrition aspect of my life. I began using the FatSecret App on my phone last summer when I made my umpteenth stab at getting healthy in the last 2 years. It worked so well for the week that I tried it that I kept it in my memory banks. As I started back on this journey, it was easy to pick it back up and start rolling with it.
The App tracks food intake, calories, and has a social community that is building each other up on their weight loss journeys. If there is something that works, it's seeing positive reinforcement from other people who are doing what you are doing. Think of it as playing 2 shots better than you ever have before and having your playing partners comment all round long about how well you are putting and how sharp your approach shots look. It really builds your confidence and keeps your focus going to try and do even more with the next shot. It's the same thing here. Losing weight is like a round where not everything clicks. Some times the scale goes up - you hit a shank, but sometimes the scale drops more than you expect - like hitting a green from the trees. It's not a pretty thing, but it's the truth.
So, here's where this gets really personal and I hope you (or anyone that this gets shared with) can find it helpful. If you are 10 pounds overweight or 100 pounds overweight, it all starts with small changes. My 2018 reboot of my "getting in shape" plan, I officially started the process last Monday morning. On February 5th, I woke up to a scale that read 324.0 pounds. Not a number that made me happy at all. Actually, in all honesty, it was about 20 pounds more than I thought it would be. My Goal in this was to lose 100 pounds to reach a weight of 200 pounds. Seeing that number made me move the needle to 225 for a primary goal, with a secondary goal of coming in for the last 25 pounds to come down to 200 even. This is just the beginning stages though, so let's not put the cart before the horse.
The Beginning: 324 pounds. Again, not what I was expecting, but not the most horrible news on the planet. At least I haven't had a stroke or something debilitating happen to me yet. Let's get this party rolling before something does. I decided to start off with a similar approach to my 2006 successful run with using Slim-Fast style shakes as a supplement to a big calorie cut. My target intake is 1800 per day, but I'm more concerned with the quality of those calories than the quantity at this point. For those wondering, no, I don't think the shakes do anything to help me lose weight, nor do I think they suppress hunger, but what they do offer is a great way to get needed vitamins and minerals that may not be included in what I'm eating. In other words, they offer a nice balance of nutrients for when I cut them out from not eating so many calories.
Day One: 314.2 pounds. Yep, there goes that water weight… I really hate the first day of a diet. You get that huge drop from your body reacting to water weight and having to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes. Eventually, everything starts to calm down, but there is always day two. The scale showed a nice 9.8 pound drop today and that was after a 1400 calorie day that included a shake and a banana for breakfast; a shake and ham for lunch; and a dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes and salad. It was a good day one start, and maybe tomorrow will go almost as well. Hopefully that water drop won’t come back on day three.
Day Two: 310.8 pounds. Well, that was fun. I managed to rally another 3.4 pound drop today. It was good to see the progress even after a huge day two. I kept on track with a 1500 calorie day that included 2 shakes; ham and eggs for breakfast, ham, sweet peppers and celery for lunch; and then a hamburger patty, a few fries (since when is 18 fries a serving???) and some cooked green cabbage. I am working hard on tracking what goes in and out so I can get adjusted properly and watch what trigger foods set me up for bad days.
Day Three: 308.4 pounds. Well this is getting good isn’t it? It’s the third day and I’m down 15+ pounds already. At this pace, I should be done by the end of the month. Well, I know it won’t keep up at this breakneck speed, but I’m very happy with how it’s going so far. I kept on going with the shake and eggs today, but added a few slices of pepperoni instead of ham for breakfast; for lunch, I had chicken breast, mini peppers, dill pickles and a shake; and dinner was a Taco Time “Fit Hit Bowl” and a cup of corn chowder. Again 1300 calories and a very solid feeling day in the loss department.
Day Four: 306.8 pounds. Hitting the scale today was actually a bit of a gamble. I knew I made a good calorie choice for dinner, but I was worried about the salt content leaving me up for the day. Instead, it was another 1.4 pound drop. Bonus! I kept on keeping on with the solid breakfast of 2 eggs, but tried mixing in the chicken breast instead and it was a nice flavor change. Keeping it interesting keeps things moving forward, right? It’s also worth noting at this point, I’m only taking in about 200 calories at 6 AM, then having the 200 calorie shake at 8 AM after I’ve been at work for a bit. I count that as breakfast, but it’s really breakfast and a snack. This passes me easily till noon where lunch kicked in again with more of the oven roasted chicken, some sweet red pepper, the left over cabbage from burger night and a shake. Dinner was an awesome adventure of flavors also with a burger patty, a cooked mashed potato patty and a veggie mix of Brussel Sprouts, onion and mushrooms. All in all, I pushed in just over 1700 calories for the day, but they were good, clean calories. I’m feeling good about this week.
Day Five: 304.6 pounds. Clean eating is paying off. Another 2.2 pounds gone. I had so much fun with the eggs and chicken yesterday, I did it again today. Had the shake at work and then had a nice lunch of chicken, sweet peppers and another shake. The day was going well, but then came the news of – we needed to go to the mall to get a present for someone. Uh oh… I quickly searched for good eats and found Panda Express would be the best option. I actually got more food than I needed and kept the total calories under 700 for the entire meal. I skipped out on the rice and went with the mixed vegetables. I stayed way from the fried bases like Kung Pao Chicken and went with broccoli beef. I had some mushroom chicken and black pepper chicken to finish it up – and again, it was more food than I needed. The funny part, it was fewer calories than the fried rice and an 1/4 serving of what I was getting the week before when I’d head out to dinner. The day finished up at just under 1600 calories and I felt fantastic about my choices.
Day Six: 303.8 pounds. Not even Panda Express salt could slow down this train! Better not think too hard though, because I have a weekend in front of me now. Kept breakfast consistent with the eggs, but flipped back to the ham for today. I like to cook the ham to give it a crisp like bacon when I can, so that’s a good weekend thing. I skipped the shake this morning because I just didn’t need the extra boost as I slept in a bit. Unfortunately, I was home for lunch. I was hoping to be on the course, but a tweak in my hand kept me off the course this weekend. Instead, lunch was ham, celery sticks and snap peas with a shake. After lunch, we dropped the kiddo off at a birthday party and headed out for a date night. We hit the Asian market for dinner and I had spicy pork with about a cup of rice. It was the largest calorie content meal I had all week, but it was so good. I also was smart and took about half of it home. After dinner we perused Target for about 40 minutes looking for movie snacks. I finally found Oh Snap! products (they are AWESOME) and some Skinny Pop popcorn. I’ll fully admit to sneaking them into the theater, but I still bought a $5 coffee from them so I don’t feel too bad.
Day Seven: 302.6 pounds. Even with a dinner out and a late night movie, I woke up another pound lighter today. Eggs, ham and coffee were on the breakfast menu. The leftovers from dinner were lunch (did I say I saved half of it? It was more like 1/3 I bet…) I added some snap peas and celery sticks for filler. From there, it was off to a party – I was good, just having coffee – and then a quick visit to the south end. It was another dinner out (How did this happen three times in the first week starting this???) at Taco Time where I had my chowder and Fit Hit Bowl again. The day clocked in at just under 1100 calories, which was dangerously low, but I had to make something work being on the road for most of the day. Overall, I’d say it was a good end to the week.
Week One Weigh In: 302.6 pounds. I couldn’t be any happier with how week one went. Hopefully I can keep up the pound plus a day loss for this week before slowing to a more normal couple of pounds a week. I do love seeing the double digit losses for week one though. It’s already starting to feel different, but I can’t wait to clear that first 25 pounds off myself. Make sure to stay tuned next week for the week two update!
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