The Biggest LOOSER -- running weight loss thread

Awesome post.

 

First off, best of luck, shot. Haven't read through this thread in a while, but wanted to throw a congrats out to Waffle as well. To drop nearly a quarter of your body weight is just mind-boggling and very impressive. Keep working!

Back to the discussion of breakfast ... yes on the eggs. I used to be a cereal guy, but I eat eggs almost every morning now. Just sitting down to a plate scrambled up with some red pepper and red onion and a little extra sharp cheddar sprinkled on top. Amazing. Eggs give you that long-lasting protein and energy. It's slow digesting.

Went to the beach for a week and drank like a fish, as it goes. Went back to the gym and weighed myself yesterday and was only up 2 pounds. One of the things we did every morning, though, was to cook a good breakfast with eggs, which kept us all from gorging throughout the day. Sure, I drank a bunch, but I spent more time swimming in the ocean, playing beach soccer or throwing bocci than I did at the fridge because I was hungry.

A couple of other things. I'm a huge fan of turkey bacon. Three slices of it is the caloric equivalent of one slice of the real stuff, and turkey bacon fries up really crispy. It's a staple in my morning.

I have a good friend who is quite frankly built like an Adonis. 6-3, 220, all muscle. Former DII basketball player. CrossFit guy and a personal trainer. Same thing. The man eats a big breakfast with eggs, bananas with peanut butter, etc. I'm convinced that everything starts with a good breakfast, giving you a great base for the day. I'm never starving around lunch time, and my lunch is usually pretty small.

My friend mentioned a good cheat for the sweet tooth crowd, too. You may not believe it, but give it a shot. Spread some all-natural peanut butter on top of a caramel corn rice cake, then add a bit of strawberry preserves to it. Tastes like a danish, but it's clearly a nutritional powerhouse compared with the pastry. I love throwing some peanut butter on a rice cake for a mid-day snack. Takes longer to eat and digest, gives you long lasting protein, etc. Mix it with a glass of milk, and you're golden. So much better than a Snickers bar, which I can wolf down in about 45 seconds.

 

The Four Hour Body diet suggests having 30 grams of protein for breakfast, which is 4-5 eggs and some pinto beans.

It's a lot to eat. But you're full for most of the day and you do feel like you have a lot more energy.

I went years having coffee and a pop tart or a bagel for breakfast. It didn't do me any favors...

 

i feel like bragging on myself a little. on feb. 9 as i was being prepped for knee surgery, i stepped on the scale at the hospital and weighed in at 360 pounds and newly diagnosed as type 2 diabetic. the most that i know i weighed was 375 about a year before that.

this morning, a couple of weeks shy of 6 months later, i stepped on the scale and weighed in at 299!

still along way to go since my goal is 250 (i'm 6-foot-6) but a lot closer to being healthy. my a1c level was 7.9 in february and down to 6.1 in may. judging from my daily blood glucose levels, i'm guessing the a1c test i'll be going for in a week will be down around 5.0 and the doc already said that if i keep it up, i'll be off the metformin and no longer be considered diabetic.

woohoo for me.

 

Way to go, tx!!!!

 

thank ya. it's really funny when i try on some clothes i hadn't worn in a while and they're falling off me. i'm having to buy new clothes in transitional stages because i keep shrinking. i'll take that added expense though.

and best of luck to others here who are working on improving themselves. i'll be 48 next month so it's never too late to get healthy.

 

Congrats Tex!!!

 

You're a source of inspiration, tx. My hat's off to you.

 

if someone can be inspired to do the same then i'm all for that. it took a really cold slap in the face for me to go to work on a problem that had been there for too long. once i made the decision that i was headed down a really bad road, it was all on me and my determination.

and truthfully, it hasn't been as difficult as i imagined - not that i'm downplaying anyone else who may have more trouble because it's all a personal struggle and people are different.

i tried dozens of different lean cuisines, healthy choices and the like until i found about 2 dozen that i actually like. i usually eat 4 small meals a day, did away with the sugary drinks (thank god for diet mt. dew) and snack on things like cherry tomatoes and other raw veggies and fresh fruits. and i even manage to cheat once in a while. if i want some ice cream or even a piece of red velvet cake, i eat a very small amount to satisfy the craving. as far exercise, i stick to an exercise bike at home.

the most important thing is don't get discouraged by small setbacks or if the weight isn't coming off as fast as you like. my average loss has been about 10 pounds a month but i don't weigh every day. but if it takes 6 weeks to lose 10 pounds instead of a month, so be it. you've still lost the weight. then go on to the next 10 pounds.

 

First off, congratulations! That's an insane amount of weight to lose in a short amount of time, and crossing the 300 line is a top-notch achievement.

As for the quote - Obvious? Yes. But I still love this.

Before my most recent drop-off explosion, I was stuck at about 300-305 for nearly two weeks. But then about 20 fell off in a month.

It's one of those things where you want to worry about being stagnant for a short amount of time, but then you look at yourself and see that over the course of 6 months or so there's a lot of weight that has come off. It's a marathon, not a sprint. And thank God for us bigger people that it isn't, am I right? *rim shot*

As for buying stopgap clothes for weight loss, I know I try to frequent the second hand stores for any clothes that I can wear in the short term while the ultimate weight loss goal runs its course. Depends on where you're working how much is available to you.

 

Tex, that's great for you. I used to weigh close to 290, got down to below 190 when I was in Basic Training, blew back up to between 220 and 230 and am now usually between 205-215. I'd like to get back to where I'm at 200 or under and can stay there, but it's a struggle sometimes. Good luck to everybody on here with their weight-loss journeys.

 

I went in for my six-month checkup with my hip surgeon yesterday. And the hips were good, but I was especially delighted with my BP -- 110/79.

Just eating right for a week has already made some difference. And that provides more motivation.