Day 11 - Trying to give people hope

Ok so I want to mention this out front. When I finished the last line in my blog I realized I never mentioned these important facts about myself.

1) I don't drink and haven't since 2001...I pretended to drink some Champagne at my wedding but it never went into my mouth ;)

2) I don't do any kind of drugs. I have tried pot about 7-8 times most of them in College but never any other drug. It's not for me.

3) I have smoked about 22 packs of Cigarettes my entire life from 15 yrs old-30 yrs old (I had my first cigarette with my friend Matt Dressel in the woods by my house. I thought I was so cool). Of course I am pretty sure that 22 packs is an over estimate. In truth its about 11 packs. I never actually smoked a whole pack in one shot but I added up all the cigarettes I bummed from other people in my life and count them as a pack to give you a unit of measure. So another way of thinking about it is I have smoked as many as 400 individual cigarettes but most likely no more than 220. Now that I see the number I think the individual count may at most have been 110 or less. In any event "if" I had a cigarette tomorrow I can go six months or longer without smoking again. So you can say if I had a reoccurring vice Cigarettes are it. However I don't think I will ever smoke again as it goes against this new lifestyle I am trying to build.

Ok so I am stuck in this seemly never ending debate with a friend about my weight loss program. A lot of people might say my plan is too drastic but I am not pushing myself too hard exercise wise or eating too little. The change is I am eating the same amounts of food at the same times during the day but I have substituted low cal healthy foods. In any event outside of the negativity of this person the general response has been pretty positive. The reason I am writing this blog and keeping everyone up to date is because I want to inspire other people and give them a real weight loss plan that doesn't feel like a weight loss plan. Losing weight isn't that hard if you do the correct things and commit to changing your life. For me it took a picture which is the cover art of my blog. I never realized I had hit rock bottom until my wife showed me the candid shot she took.

My Plan:

Exercise:

Ok so what I do is exercise moderately with a lot of water and a lot of breaks. Slowly work your way up and do a little more cardio each day but if you feel tired stop right there and come back tomorrow and try again. The first day I worked out at 225 I lasted three minutes and I was sweating profusely and was doubled over out of breath. Each day I added a minute or so. After a couple of days I started logging everything and started this blog. I keep my cardio under 20 mins per day for the first couple of weeks. Most health professionals agree that the most you need in the cardio department is anywhere between 15-30 mins unless your training for a specific sport. Over straining yourself with exercise will ultimately hurt your long term goals. Keeping small goals and going one step at a time helps you to not resent or want to avoid exercise. I don't care if you only do five minutes a day its better than no minutes a day. You don't have to waste your life in a gym or take supplements like some people do. You certainly don't need to take diet pills or buy abdominal equipment because doing any of these things is not addressing the core issue. The core issue is and always has been BMI or Body Mass Index. Basically how much fat do you carry over your muscles. The key here is that everyone is cut like a fitness model but most of the muscles are buried under fat. I don't care if your 500 pounds under all that fat is a fitness model as that is how the human body is built. Strip away the skin and fat and your really muscular. Some people suggest doing push ups, crunches, lifting weights, etc but this can only be effective after you have shed the pounds and reached an optimal/healthy weight. In reality the best way to lose weight is to replace your current foods with tasty equivalents. Instead of Iced Tea drink Diet Snapple 0 cals so it doesn't feel like deprivation or giving something up only replacing it . What you will find is that at the end of the day your gonna like the equivalents just as much as the regular food and you will start to become proud of yourself and that pride will fuel additional changes in your life. However go slowly change 1 food at a time and do a lot of research on what those equivalents should be. For me Multi Grain Cheerios is a good alternative to Cinnamon Toast Crunch which was my favorite fattening cereal. Multi grain Cheerios is a healthy alternative that is still sweet tasting and can be combined with 2% percent milk for a healthy breakfast. 2% milk has the right balance as skim milk tastes like sh*t and whole milk is too fattening so 2% is the middle path. 2% milk has just enough fat in it to reduce hunger but you also don't lose any of the all important calcium.

I am currently researching fruits and vegetables to find the healthy/optimal selection. Initial research shows that Apples with the skin on is the best fruit. Next is Apricots and Banana's I love apples and Banana's but I have never tasted an Apricot. On the vegetable side I have to admit I hate vegetables but one vegetable that anyone can easily tolerate is the sweet potato, Who knew! Thank god for the sweet potato. Believe it or not the sweet potato is actually a fat burning vegetable. There are certain foods that gobble up the fat in the foods you eat and eat them for you. I know thats not a medically correct explanation but its close enough. So if the vegetable is eating the fat then you don't have to. Problem solved healthier fat intake and fat burning foods means you get the nutrients without any of the bad side effects. Ok so I have been on this plan for 11 days and for the first time in months I just ate an Empire Apple. Now some might say what food before bed thats not good. Well guess what thats not really true. When you sleep you burn calories naturally. So a good slow releasing carb/natural sugar helps fuel the metabolic process while you sleep. The actual worst thing you can do is go to bed hungry because your body stops metabolizing as it tells your brain that your gas tank is empty and it needs to conserve fuel. Anyways I found this Apple to be sweeter than any candy I ever ate. Not Sure why but I did. It was crazy I almost had to squint it was so juicy and succulent. Who knew? I am so happy that I am changing my life for the better but in a way that I can keep going after I reach my goal weight. I have a feeling that one day my mind set will change as well and I will become one of those people who become physically ill at the idea of of eating fast food. I don't want that crap in my life anymore. There are such wonderful health foods if you look for them and replace the junk food that you like with healthy equivalents. Oh and good news when you eat food that you like that is healthy you can master your cravings for other stuff. For me it's Pizza which I have always LOVED since I was a child. This was the hardest to give up...Oh wait I didn't I eat the Celeste Pizza for one 350 cals but it's a healthier portion controlled way to live in a world with Pizza. I may one day try to make my own because if I can find a lower cal more optimized pizza that would be wonderful. I am all about taking the foods I loved in life and finding a way to optimize them or replace them. Take soda for example I used to love drinking multiple soft drinks at a time. Now I can still do that because I found yummy equivalents that are 0 cal. I find that Diet Root Beer A&W/Barques and Diet Dr. Pepper are the best. Diet Coke and Pepsi tastes like well diet. They remind you that you suffering and that you long for regular soda. Now some hater is gonna say oh Jason what about the Sodium and Caffeine. Guess what believe it or not but Caffeine in Coffee is actually a fat burning food. I was shocked and didn't believe it either. Ok now sodium let me ask you how much sodium do you think there is in the regular drink so if you can drink the Regular isn't the Diet the lesser of two evils. So heres the thing about soda in general it shouldn't be over consumed diet or not. You have to mix in a straight water bottle now and then and I also love Crystal Light Ice Tea and Pink Lemonade to flavor up that water. For the Lemonade make sure it is well diluted other wise I find it too tart. For the Ice Tea using more of the packet in a smaller glass makes it sweeter. I swear if you handed me a glass of 4C Iced Tea and a glass of crystal light in a blind taste test I couldn't tell the major difference. I was soooo happy to find the Iced Tea because apart from Soda it was my favorite go to drink. Ok lets do a calorie count comparisons on the drinks I just mentioned.

1 Regular Coke or Pepsi = 180 cals and a ton of sugar

1 Diet Root Beer or Dr. Pepper 0 cals significantly less sugar.

1 Glass of 4C regular Iced Tea 124 cals

1 Glass of Crystal Light Iced Tea 5 cals (Same size glass and they taste near identical)

Today's Food: 1/2 Jello's 27 cals; 4 Wheat Bread Slices 280 cals; 1/2 Serving Tuna 30 Cals; 1 Jello - Banana and Chocolate Pudding 60 cals; 1 Special K Protein Plus 100 cals, 1 Cup 2% Milk 80 cals, 1 Empire Apple 80 cals.

On drinks which I don't usually count because they are 0 cals I drank: 3/4 of a Diet Dr. Pepper 0 cals, 1 Diet Peach Snapple 0 cals, 1 & 1/2 bottles of bottled water straight (1 million cals) j/k o cals, 1 Glass of Crystal Light Iced Tea about 12 oz 5 cals.

Also I measure everything food and drinks precisely. I don't "f" around and guess. If your not precise than you don't really know how many cals your eating. Therefore if I don't know how many calories a food has I refuse to eat it. This might make it weird for me at parties and restaurants. I use a measuring cup and a scale to be exact on my servings.

TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE: 17.2 Pounds

Date: 2/5/2010
Current Weight: 207.8 lbs
Daily Calories 630
Exercise Routine: 20 mins Elliptical; no walking because of the snow. Breaking a hip on the ice might be a negative thing ;)
Waist Size: Slacks are starting to slightly slip off me when I walk
Body Condition: Noticeably Less protruding stomach, stomach hangs over the belt line and is very vertical because its like a deflated ballon now however it will suck into a flat stomach soon, walking stairs 1-3 flights does not leave me winded, sweating normally.
Mental Condition: Happy and energetic

***So remember that friend who was telling me less than a 1000 cals was unhealthy. Look at the foods I ate. Do you think I starved? Do you think I skipped meals, nope I ate like a pig and loved every second of it. I exercised and ate fruit. Tomorrow's brunch snack is gonna be a sweet potato. Can't wait...oh also I found a equivalent/alternative to my multi grain Cheerios. Special K Protein Plus one of the best cereals you can eat pound for pound. So as I keep saying eat the foods you like but there is always something that you can do to optimize your food intake. Think more food worth less cals and exercise and say fuck it I lose what I lose and never be afraid of the scale again( I curse here because I feel so passionately about it). If you live a clean life then there is nothing that can stop you. Nature will rip the weight off you if you give it half a chance.***