Nothing is off the Table (Except the Cookies)

I am a work in progress. My determination is a work in progress. My will power is a work in progress. I have my good days and my bad days but as long as the good days well out number my bad days I will continue to make progress towards my ultimate goal, being healthier. Another week has passed and I am down overall during the course of that week. That means that this is also the last week of Challenge Round 9 and it is time to make sure I hit my goal and knock it out of the water. I had great feedback on my last post where I talked about the types of people who weigh-in and a lot of my friends told me that they are also a Type 3,  much like myself.  For some reason, knowing this information is comforting. Another friend told me that I should look at my weeks in terms of what my average weight was instead of what I weigh each individual day.  With this in mind, and luckily enough, my Fitbit app keeps track of this information for me. So, while yesterday I broke down and ju

There are three types of people when it comes to weight loss. 1 - The type of person who never weighs themselves and just goes on with their life judging success by the mirror and how their clothes fit. 2 - The person who picks a day of the week and weighs themselves at the same time of day on that day of the week religiously. 3 - The person who weighs themselves every day and even though they are aware that weight fluctuates they overanalyze the daily fluctuations.  I am a type 3 personality in this scenario.  In fact, I was worse when I first started this as I was weighing myself at night and in the morning.  My Fitbit app was full of fluctuations because of this.  So, I ended up having to cut out the evening weigh-ins (or at last the ones on the scale that sends the data to Fitbit) and just focus on the morning ones.  Because of this I look at the daily fluctuations and try to figure out what I did differently and why the scale was moving in whatever direction.  For the

Yesterday I ate all the things.  Before I could make it to work I was unusually hungry.  I've been eating my one meal every day at work and I had plans on going at least 24 hours yesterday, but it all went awry when I just couldn't shake the feeling of hunger in the morning. So, instead of waiting until I got to work, I decided that I would eat lunch and then go for at least 24 hours by skipping my normal meal at work.  All was fine (and dandy) until I got to work and for some reason I was just in an off mood and decided to make some bad decisions.  I had a snack before work which was highly unhealthy and high in calories. Once dinner time at work hit my entire day had been steadily going downhill and I ended up eating a bag of chips for dinner.  In my mind, the whole time, I knew these were bad decisions but I really just didn't want to stop myself, so I didn't.  I knew that there would be a gain on the scales the next morning and I could just regroup then and ge

There are approximately a billion different ways to lose weight and over the years I have tried most of them.  The problem is that if you aren't using a method that is in tune with your lifestyle and your goals you will probably fail at some point and revert back to your previous state. This is a tough lesson to learn, and only comes with experience. Let me be your experience and guide you. This is the lesson I have learned time and time again as I searched for the miracle that would help me become slim and trim and a sexual appetizer to all the chicks.  I have lost considerable weight and I have gained it back each and every time.  Sometimes I lean to hard on the "healthy eating" side of things, and when I fall off that wagon I fall hard. Sometimes I lean on the "exercise" side and eventually I just don't feel like a trip to the gym is worth it so I stop going for 27 years straight.  Each path that you can choose has it's own upsides and downsid

My three week challenge has ended and I'm happy report that I am a winner. I started the challenge at 258.1 and my goal was to lose 6 pounds.  Three weeks later I weighed in at 250.4 which was higher than I thought i'd be, but still a winner.  I really appreciate this challenge coming into my life to help give me extra motivation. I will continue to look for new motivation as I march towards thin. During the last week of the challenge I basically made no progress because I had an evening where i gorged myself and gained about 5 pounds.  Some of that, I feel, is because I ate so late at night and thus my body didn't have time to process everything I put in me. Over the next couple of days I lost most of what I put on and then I had a 3 day period where I basically weighed the same every morning.  Three days of basically coming in at the same weight helped me come to a realization. During the 2nd and 3rd of those days I spent the morning with my children.  My 4 y

My weight loss journey has consisted of many ups and downs over the years. I've tried different diets and routines, but all has led me back to just being fat and lazy. This is why I have chosen to take a completely different approach, a slower and more adaptive approach. This is why I am allowing myself planned, and unplanned, tumbles off the wagon. It will keep me on track during my journey. The graphic above has nothing to do with today's post but I really liked it and want to make sure to use a graphic in every post. No, the post today is about how I had a planned night out with friends and did whatever I felt like with no guild. Last night I met up with some of my friends for a Fantasy Football draft, and my team came out pretty awesome if you must know. Going into this event I knew there was going to be mass quantities of food and booze which I normally do not partake in, but I allowed myself to have no restrictions for the evening. I drank many beers. I ate

Here's the thing.  I'm a middle aged white guy who, for most of my life, hasn't cared much about how I look or how much I weigh. Over the past five years this has all changed, for multiple reasons. While I am trying to be completely open and honest in this blog, this will probably be the most emotional post that I make. I love my wife. I love my children. I do not want to miss out on them. I've battled my weight on and off since I was near the age of ten.  When I hit my growth spurt in high school and spent countless days walking the streets of my small groundhog loving town I was probably at my most fit and slim.  However, I went to college and had free reign to do whatever I wanted and ended up transitioning into what would become my adult body. This adult body was basically the big fat ass that I currently am.  Since the early 2000's I have fluctuated between 260 and 303 with a random dip down to 203 before my wedding.  You are reading this which basic

Today at my office job a very happy client sent over this amazing box of gourmet cookies.  I've been doing great at avoiding junk food and my hunger has been under control but something in me got excited when I saw these cookies. One of my co-workers cut down the middle of a chocolate chip cookie and it looked ooey and gooey and warm and moist and the chocolate looked like it melted on the knife.  My desire for one of these amazing looking cookies bolted to the front of my mind. I looked at my watch and then realized it wasn't going to give the information that I was looking for so I opened my fasting apps and saw that I still had 30 minutes until my 18 hour fast was up. I decided at that moment I was going to sample a cookie.  I didn't debate it.  I didn't contemplate whether or not I should have one.  I decided I was going to eat one. The only thing that I did in concession, was tell myself that because I was going to sample this delicious looking treat, I w