The Fat Turtle Project

First, I want to thank everyone for their support...I appreciate it.  The advice is great, as well...Keep it coming!

So, here is my plan...

Calorie Counting 

The first thing I am going to do is count calories using this spreadsheet, which lists the food along with the calories and fat calories.  It calculates the % of calories that are fat and my goal is to keep that around 25%.  I've done a bit of research to come up with the 1744 number of daily calories.  The jump in calories on Thursday and Sunday was something several sites suggested doing to prevent plateaus.  I used freedieting.com to do these calculations.  I use sites like caloriecount.com and Daily Plate to get the calories in various foods.  Daily Plate is now part of LiveStrong.com, which is a terrific source of information on health, dieting tricks and exercise.

I have used this calorie counting approach with a lot of success, twice before.  The first time was last year and I lost about 20 pounds, which I put back on.  I used it again this summer and lost 10 pounds, which I promptly put back on.  I have a million excuses as to why I put  that weight, that I really worked to get off, back on, but I'm not using them anymore.  If I am going to succeed at this, I need to stop using those excuses as crutches.  That's one of the reasons I am using this approach...It might be easy to tell myself that I am eating half a pint of ice cream because I had a rough day, but a lot more difficult to tell family and friends the same thing and have it be acceptable.  

My biggest problem in the past has been late night eating.  As I sit and watch TV, all I want to do is eat, and, at times, it gets pretty bad.  There have been times where I think I have done at least half my daily calorie intake after 8:00 at night.  I think this is going to be my biggest issue, but I hope writing this blog as well as other writing, will help curb the urges more.

Exercise

The big key to weight loss is exercise, and that is where I have had the most success in the past.  So, for the first two or three weeks, I am going to run and/or bicycle five times a week.  During the summer, I had gotten myself up to three miles running and cycling 30 miles with relative comfort.  I aim to get there again.  After that, I will exercise three times a week, at least.  

I will also do push ups and work on my core.  By building up bigger muscles groups, you can burn more calories while at rest.  Plus, if I want to do a triathlon next summer, my core is going to be vital to succeeding there.

We have a treadmill and trainer for the bike for when the weather gets colder.  In January, I want to try adding swimming at the YMCA to the routine.  More on that later.

So, that is my relatively simple plan.  I will give my starting point stats tomorrow and maybe a photo for comparisons sake...I promise, I'll be fully cloth for the picture...maybe. 

Odd day.  Daycare was closed for a teachers in-service day so I was home with the kids.  I proceeded to stuff them with every bit of junk I could find, starting with Frankenberry cereal and McDonalds Cinnamon melts to in the morning, to Halloween candy after dinner (they were, almost literally, bouncing off the wall).  My sub conscience must have been giving them everything I wanted to eat while, I was eating all bran, which might as well be cardboard in skim milk, and yogurt.

With stress coming from all directions at work, a big paper for school due at the end of the week and Andrea about to start a stretch in which she will be gone for three out of four weeks, I can't help but wonder if I had the right timing.  However, of course, I need to handle all this, and if I am eating healthy, I'll be able to do that better.

Running felt good, but there are some really ugly Halloween decorations out there.  I think, with the holidays beginning, I'll start a blog on ugly decorations.  I'm not sure I get a Christmas tree, but with just orange lights, passing as a Halloween decoration.  What does a Christmas tree have to do with Halloween?  All this really has nothing to do with anything, but I thought it was interesting.  

To the left is how I look today.  This whole process would be incomplete without a before picture.

I guess that's it.  I'm not going to write everyday, and I'm going to try to work in more humor as I go along.  I'm too hungry right now to try to be funny.

Again, thank you to everyone for your advice and support.  It really helps. 

It's been 36 hours and I am still thinking about yesterday's breakfast.  It was just a couple of fried eggs, toast, Taylor Ham and home fries at a tiny, little known restaurant here in Bethlehem called Dartos, but it might as well have been a gourmet breakfast prepared by the cast of Top Chef (I gotta stop watching that show when I am dieting).  It was glorious, it really was.  Maybe it was because I had been starving myself all week or maybe it was because it was prepared perfectly, or maybe it was because Andrea and I were eating breakfast at 9:30, having an adult conversation and not playing defense with two small children.  You see, my parents had the boys for a weekend...it was the first time in four years that we didn't have the kids for an extended period of time.  We slept in late, took our time getting out of the house and were able to have a nice relaxed breakfast.

Unfortunately, after a great week with the diet, that breakfast opened the floodgates for a bad weekend.  There are a bunch of reasons...excuses...but very simply, I slipped up and ate way too much and didn't exercise enough.  So, I need to refocus this week and try to do better.

But, boy was that a good breakfast. 

Okay, it hasn't been a great start to this little experiment.  I want to thank a friend of mine who called me out on this Friday, pointed out how long it has been since I have updated and kicked me in the ass. Sincerely, thanks, and I hope my other friends do the same when I start to slack off.

I met him on Andrea and I's honeymoon 10 years ago and we hit it off almost instantly.  Several weeks later, he would move in with us and become a fixture in our lives.  As we moved from Queens to Hoboken to North Plainfield to Bethlehem, he came with us.  We didn't mind.  We were very comfortable with him.  He was a front row seat to each of our Christmases and provided comfort on the long colic nights with Benjamin.  Both boys sit with him and play with him.

Now, I have begun to realize that this old friend...this relationship with him, has become unhealthy.

Of course, I am not talking about a person...I am talking about the sofa chair Andrea and I bought while on our honey moon.  It a tan, big cushioned chair that has usually found it's way directly in front of the television.  And, of course, this is where I usually find myself from about 8:30 PM, after the kids are in bed, until about midnight when I manage to make my way to bed.  This is the habit nearly every night, and, as I put it on paper, I feel a twinge of shame in it. 

It is so easy, after a rough day at work and hanging out with the kids, to just want to sink into the chair and vegetate in  front of the TV.  It's the easy thing to do, and probably, one of the biggest reasons I still battle with my weight.  There have been so many nights where I plan to run or work out and I come downstairs after putting the boys to bed and decide to sit down for a moment.  And, just like that, the plan to run and workout, is gone.  An object at rest will stay at rest.

So,  this is one of the primary habits I need to break.  After the kids are in bed, I need to not just crash in the chair.  I need to keep moving after tuck in and not allow myself get comfortable.  I believe this is one of the many habits I need to change in my effort to lose weight, and something I am going to work on this week.

The other thing the chair does is cause me to be lazy about writing.  Writing helps me to feel better about myself...it is cathartic.  If I feel better about myself, the less likely I am to eat and the more likely I am to run and work out.  This is definitely a habit I need to break.

-----------------

The last couple of weeks have been a series of setbacks for me.  Battling the swine flu prevented me from working out, as my lungs remain tight.  This, combined with work stress and stress with the kids illness, led me to eat, eat and eat.  Yes, another set of convenient excuses that I shouldn't be leaning on.  The lack of updates in the last two weeks is likely my own embarrassment regarding this.  The next two weeks won't be much easier with Andrea travelling.  I think to keep the stress down, I am going to be forced to exercise, so that may be a good thing.  

Weight loss is such a struggle...must battle on. 

In just three and a half weeks, I hit 220 pounds this morning for a net loss of 10 pounds.  I was shocked by this.  I really hit 10 pounds about a week or two before I expected, so I am really excited.  But the real challenge begins now...or, more specifically, tomorrow.  

I've stopped using a spreadsheet to track my calories, because I feel I have a good sense of it by now.  I continue to do my workouts and feel real strong with them.  I'm up to a mile and a half, running, comfortably.  

There are two challenge, now.  First is I can expect to plateau soon and, second, the holidays.  I'm hoping to lose a pound a week, which may be possible, but, I need to keep an eye on my food intake.  I may go back to using the spreadsheet on days where there is some Christmas event or party, but, exercise  will be more important than ever, now.  I may try to add an extra day of working out.

Obviously, I need to figure out a plan.  However, for tomorrow, I'm going to let go and chow down.  Thanksgiving is once a year and I love pumpkin pie! 

So, I survived the Holidays and managed to maintain the 10 pounds lost before Thanksgiving.  I was really very happy with it and it wasn't really too difficult.  I exercised when I could...I didn't force it.  I knew I would stress myself out trying to fit exercise in on a regular basis, so I did it when I could, took the stairs at work and walked to places when I needed to, instead of driving (although I am not sure I should count walking to the six-pack store).

As far as food, during Holiday lunches and dinners, I made smart choices, avoided the cookies most of the time, resisted the random foods people brought into work and avoided anything wrapped in bacon.  Basically, I just continued what I was doing before and ate smart, if not healthy.  On Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Eve, I relaxed the diet and didn't worry about what I was eating.  I felt good about doing that because I made sacrifices at other times and was able to enjoy myself.

The weird part is that surviving until this past Monday without having put back on any weight, I feel more tempted by food than in the two months before and my will power is really low.  I've had three good workouts this week, but I am not eating well and struggling.  It's almost like once I got through the short term goal, mentally I let go a bit.  So, now I need to figure out how to get back on track before I do any more damage.  I am going to see how the next two days go and figure out if I need to take drastic measures to kick start again.  I'll keep you posted.

There have been times where I have been determined to diet and exercise and get started but it only lasts for a day or two, maybe a week.  Even at the start of this experiment, I felt like what I was trying to do wasn't taking.  I kept slipping.  This week that change and thing felt like they took hold.  I felt good about the exercise I am doing and am enjoying the food.  I was within my calorie goals for every day except Saturday (kids birthday party and a football game) and didn't feel too hungry.  I am pretty happy.

Unofficially, I think when I weigh in tomorrow it will be about a four pound loss.  I am pretty excited about it.