I don't think I posted week 3 because there was an issue with Blogger and I just forgot. Long story short, I gain one pound last week.
Onward!
Weigh in for Week 4
Last week: 212.8 lbs
This Week: 211.2 lbs
Weight lost 1.6 lbs
Total Weight lost: 5.6 lbs
I knew last week was a fluke.
Next week: Measurements.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Week 2 numbers
Week 3 weigh in:
Last week 211.8 lbs
This week 212.8 lbs
Weight lost + 1 lb
Total weight lost 4 lbs
I'm not going to let myself be discouraged. I did everything right. Perhaps this is muscle gain slowing my momentum a bit.
Last week 211.8 lbs
This week 212.8 lbs
Weight lost + 1 lb
Total weight lost 4 lbs
I'm not going to let myself be discouraged. I did everything right. Perhaps this is muscle gain slowing my momentum a bit.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Week one in detail.
Week one of my new way of eating is over. While it is too early to tell, so far it is a resounding success.
I have lost 5 pounds, which is quite a lot by normal standards. I credit this to my body responding to suddenly getting what it needs and not getting what is harmful to it. I predict as the weeks progress, weight loss should be less dramatic.
As predicted, my new diet is leaving me sated with far fewer calories. I am not controlling calories and fat intake as such, but Sparkpeople automatically records them. I have found this diet results in less fat and calories eaten with the same or better levels of satisfaction. I feel more in control of my eating and I find myself eating smaller portions automatically, though there was no limit on how much I could eat as long as the foods were high in fiber and contained no processed sugars.
While I still crave unhealthy foods, I feel that the choice to eat them is more in my control. I also am going with the knowledge that I have not given up bad food altogether, but will be more measured and careful about how I consume them. As one should with alcohol, I plan to indulge only occasionally. The first time this happens will be a test. In the past this has led me to spin out of control and resume bad, addictive behaviors.
I’m being careful with exercise, because overtraining has been my other downfall, leading to burnout. I’m making sure to give my muscles plenty of rest and take progression of workouts slowly. The goal is to feel challenged, but not exhausted. While I was sore up to my rest over the weekend, I seem to have recovered completely.
The most unexpected aspect of the changeover is my energy levels. In the past, I would experience a spike in my energy when starting a new diet. I became restless and overly obsessive. This usually led to overtraining. With this diet, my energy levels are moderate. I do not feel sluggish, nor do I feel overly energetic. I believe this is a good sign, but since the body usually takes about 2 weeks to stabilize, I’ll have a better idea of how my energy is affected in the next week or two.
Overall, my results are positive, and sustainable good health and weight seem to be a possibility. So far, it would seem that food addiction is indeed treatable. I do not feel like I’m fighting with my appetite, and this is almost easy. That’s important to success I think.
I’m reminded of when I gave up another addiction, smoking. I remember that every time I quit was horribly difficult, except the last time, which was quite easy. I had decided that I really didn’t want to smoke anymore, which meant I psychologically was not working against myself. This made the treatment go smoothly. I think all addictions work in a similar fashion. You have to really be ready to make a change, if you force a change on yourself, it will never work. It is not so much the desire to lose weight and become healthy, it is the desire to commit to what needs to be done to make this happen. And of course the careful application of the right methods of treatment, which is the basis of this experiment.
Most importantly I decided to stop hating myself for what I have done, and to stop hating my body for not looking the way I want it to. I am as I am, and I want to be healthy. If my body takes on a more pleasing shape, I will be happy, but I will not hate it if it doesn’t.
I have lost 5 pounds, which is quite a lot by normal standards. I credit this to my body responding to suddenly getting what it needs and not getting what is harmful to it. I predict as the weeks progress, weight loss should be less dramatic.
As predicted, my new diet is leaving me sated with far fewer calories. I am not controlling calories and fat intake as such, but Sparkpeople automatically records them. I have found this diet results in less fat and calories eaten with the same or better levels of satisfaction. I feel more in control of my eating and I find myself eating smaller portions automatically, though there was no limit on how much I could eat as long as the foods were high in fiber and contained no processed sugars.
While I still crave unhealthy foods, I feel that the choice to eat them is more in my control. I also am going with the knowledge that I have not given up bad food altogether, but will be more measured and careful about how I consume them. As one should with alcohol, I plan to indulge only occasionally. The first time this happens will be a test. In the past this has led me to spin out of control and resume bad, addictive behaviors.
I’m being careful with exercise, because overtraining has been my other downfall, leading to burnout. I’m making sure to give my muscles plenty of rest and take progression of workouts slowly. The goal is to feel challenged, but not exhausted. While I was sore up to my rest over the weekend, I seem to have recovered completely.
The most unexpected aspect of the changeover is my energy levels. In the past, I would experience a spike in my energy when starting a new diet. I became restless and overly obsessive. This usually led to overtraining. With this diet, my energy levels are moderate. I do not feel sluggish, nor do I feel overly energetic. I believe this is a good sign, but since the body usually takes about 2 weeks to stabilize, I’ll have a better idea of how my energy is affected in the next week or two.
Overall, my results are positive, and sustainable good health and weight seem to be a possibility. So far, it would seem that food addiction is indeed treatable. I do not feel like I’m fighting with my appetite, and this is almost easy. That’s important to success I think.
I’m reminded of when I gave up another addiction, smoking. I remember that every time I quit was horribly difficult, except the last time, which was quite easy. I had decided that I really didn’t want to smoke anymore, which meant I psychologically was not working against myself. This made the treatment go smoothly. I think all addictions work in a similar fashion. You have to really be ready to make a change, if you force a change on yourself, it will never work. It is not so much the desire to lose weight and become healthy, it is the desire to commit to what needs to be done to make this happen. And of course the careful application of the right methods of treatment, which is the basis of this experiment.
Most importantly I decided to stop hating myself for what I have done, and to stop hating my body for not looking the way I want it to. I am as I am, and I want to be healthy. If my body takes on a more pleasing shape, I will be happy, but I will not hate it if it doesn’t.
Start of week 2
Last weeks weight: 216.8 lbs
This week: 211.8 lbs
Weight lost: 5 lbs
Total Weight lost: 5 lbs
Full entry about my first week to come later today.
If you're wondering what I've been eating and doing for exercise, it's all posted here. my.sparkpeople.com/AMAZONPAGE
This week: 211.8 lbs
Weight lost: 5 lbs
Total Weight lost: 5 lbs
Full entry about my first week to come later today.
If you're wondering what I've been eating and doing for exercise, it's all posted here. my.sparkpeople.com/AMAZONPAGE
Monday, September 6, 2010
Lifestyle Change Update 1
Alright, here we go, and here are the big numbers. Sort of embarrassing but necessary.
Weight- 216.8 lbs (The lowest weight I've started any eating plan or lifestyle change)
Waist- 40.5 in
Hips- 48.75 in
Thigh- 24 in
Upper Arm- 12.5 in
Next week at this time I will post a weight update and the difference. In four weeks I'll update the measurements the same way.
Weight- 216.8 lbs (The lowest weight I've started any eating plan or lifestyle change)
Waist- 40.5 in
Hips- 48.75 in
Thigh- 24 in
Upper Arm- 12.5 in
Next week at this time I will post a weight update and the difference. In four weeks I'll update the measurements the same way.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
in which research is carefully applied...
It isn’t a secret that I’ve struggled with my weight for all of my adult life. Becoming obese wasn’t intentional (is it ever?), it was just something that happened and before I knew it, it was kind of out of control. Over these years I developed binge eating disorder, which I kept a secret for a long time, and that made it quite difficult to take any weight off despite attempts at a healthier lifestyle, and health concerns.
Over the last year and a half, after yet another renewed effort to get my eating under control failed, I decided that if I was going to ever lose weight and get healthy, I would need to find out why I overeat in the first place and fix the cause.
This is what I found out:
My reasons for overeating are a combination of emotional and physical (yes physical) factors; to succeed I need to treat both.
People are drawn by years of evolution to seek and eat as much fat, sugar, and salt as they can. These are available in huge quantities now, yet we haven’t changed.
Sugar is in everything, and while it’s quick energy, it’s like alcohol in our liver. We can neutralize the effects of sugar with fiber. Fiber also controls appetite. Nature pairs sugar with fiber. Fruit is high in fiber, and sugarcane is loaded with sugar, but has so much fiber it’s a stick. When we process sugars we remove the fiber, so there’s no antidote to the poison. In order to preserve foods, we processed out the fiber from them as well. When we removed fat from all our foods, we added sugar to make them tasty. Sugar covers up the fact that the processed food I was eating was the nutritional equivalent of packing peanuts.
Like alcohol, tons of sugar can cause dependence and yes, binging.
The result of our modern diet is weight gain and dependency.
The result of weight gain is emotional alienation that results in further dependency.
While it might not have been totally my fault, I got fat, it is my responsibility to fix the problem now that I know what caused it.
Starting Monday, I’m going to try to apply my research and try to “cure” myself. The plan is to lower my sugar levels as much as possible. If I do have sugar I must pair it with fiber. I will also raise my fiber intake to at least the daily recommended amounts, higher if possible. My diet will mostly contain fruits and veggies, beans, nuts, and whole grains. As little processed items as possible, no juices or flavored drinks (all sugar, no fiber). No aspartame or sucralose because I don’t think those are better. Little or no high fructose corn syrup. For this plan, I will not be necessarily monitoring fat or calorie intake, though I will do my best to keep these reasonable because 60 grams of fat in one meal isn’t all that great either.
Exercise is supposed to help you purge toxins, so I plan to exercise a minimum of 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes consisting of 3 cardio days and two strength days.
If my weight is a sign of my illness then it should regulate itself once I fix what’s making me ill. To that end, I will be weighing myself once a week, and measuring my waist, hips, thigh, and arm once a month.
I’ll be using Sparkpeople.com to report my weight and monitor my exercise and food intake. My name is Amazonpage, and you’re welcome to check that out, though I will be reporting my weight weekly on Mondays, and my measurement progress every fourth Monday on both Blogger and Facebook.
I’m treating my attempt at weight loss as an experiment. What happens when I neutralize the toxins in the environment? Is food addiction treatable? I think it is, and I’ll be excited to see where I am one year from now.
Over the last year and a half, after yet another renewed effort to get my eating under control failed, I decided that if I was going to ever lose weight and get healthy, I would need to find out why I overeat in the first place and fix the cause.
This is what I found out:
My reasons for overeating are a combination of emotional and physical (yes physical) factors; to succeed I need to treat both.
People are drawn by years of evolution to seek and eat as much fat, sugar, and salt as they can. These are available in huge quantities now, yet we haven’t changed.
Sugar is in everything, and while it’s quick energy, it’s like alcohol in our liver. We can neutralize the effects of sugar with fiber. Fiber also controls appetite. Nature pairs sugar with fiber. Fruit is high in fiber, and sugarcane is loaded with sugar, but has so much fiber it’s a stick. When we process sugars we remove the fiber, so there’s no antidote to the poison. In order to preserve foods, we processed out the fiber from them as well. When we removed fat from all our foods, we added sugar to make them tasty. Sugar covers up the fact that the processed food I was eating was the nutritional equivalent of packing peanuts.
Like alcohol, tons of sugar can cause dependence and yes, binging.
The result of our modern diet is weight gain and dependency.
The result of weight gain is emotional alienation that results in further dependency.
While it might not have been totally my fault, I got fat, it is my responsibility to fix the problem now that I know what caused it.
Starting Monday, I’m going to try to apply my research and try to “cure” myself. The plan is to lower my sugar levels as much as possible. If I do have sugar I must pair it with fiber. I will also raise my fiber intake to at least the daily recommended amounts, higher if possible. My diet will mostly contain fruits and veggies, beans, nuts, and whole grains. As little processed items as possible, no juices or flavored drinks (all sugar, no fiber). No aspartame or sucralose because I don’t think those are better. Little or no high fructose corn syrup. For this plan, I will not be necessarily monitoring fat or calorie intake, though I will do my best to keep these reasonable because 60 grams of fat in one meal isn’t all that great either.
Exercise is supposed to help you purge toxins, so I plan to exercise a minimum of 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes consisting of 3 cardio days and two strength days.
If my weight is a sign of my illness then it should regulate itself once I fix what’s making me ill. To that end, I will be weighing myself once a week, and measuring my waist, hips, thigh, and arm once a month.
I’ll be using Sparkpeople.com to report my weight and monitor my exercise and food intake. My name is Amazonpage, and you’re welcome to check that out, though I will be reporting my weight weekly on Mondays, and my measurement progress every fourth Monday on both Blogger and Facebook.
I’m treating my attempt at weight loss as an experiment. What happens when I neutralize the toxins in the environment? Is food addiction treatable? I think it is, and I’ll be excited to see where I am one year from now.
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