Weight Loss Revisited 07.09.2009

I’ve really slacked off on a lot of stuff.

I blame my son.  His allergies are holding me back.

Joking.

But I have slacked off, and who would notice but da ‘wif.

So her comment was “are you just going to sit around on the couch again.” and I’m like “no – when do I do that?” and she’s like “all the time.”.  End of discussion.

So I promptly got onto the scale and weighed myself – 299lbs.  SO while I’ve kept my weight down I’m F-A-R from where I want to be.  Ideally by the end of this year (2009, honey not when hell freeze over) I would like to get down to 250lbs.

That’s my long-term goal for 2009 – lose 50lbs within 6 months time.

That’s only 8lbs per month and the ideal weight loss is 1-2 lbs per month.

So how am I going to get there?  By making many smaller goals that I can easily measure.

So my first goal is to lose 4lbs by July 16, 2009.  Yes that’s quite a bit, but I know my body and how I burn calories and know that I can meet that goal.

How will I get there?  By watching what I eat, and doing more exercise.

Breakfast

Bowl of Bran Flakes cereal with 2% milk (can’t stand skim milk), a small piece of home made cake (about 3″ by 2″).

Snack

Cherries.  Lots of them.

Tea.  About 2-cups of tea with 2% milk and no sugar.  Love my tea!

Lunch

Campbells Hearty Noddles soup.

Snack

Cherries.  More cherries.  I like cherries.

Oh… and something deliciously sinful and sweet – a large Butterhorn pastry.  I know I shouldn’t have, but couldn’t resist.  Besides, it was the last one.  Won’t be buying these anytime soon!

Tea.  About 2-cups of tea with 2% milk and no sugar.  Love my tea!

Dinner

Going out to a persian restaurant in North Vancouver.  The food is GREAT and we usually buy the same thing all the time.  Large green salad, rice with kobideh kabab.  Very good, probably more than I should be having but we don’t go out often so this is a small treat for us.

We ended up doing a bbq at home – burgers, some chicken wings (skin removed) and corn.  Lots of salad on the side, water to wash it all down with (I avoided soda pop).  Burgers had cheese on them, some mayo, mustard, ketchup and pickles.

Now you might be thinking that that’s not a lot of food (breakfast + snack + lunch + snack) – well, no it isn’t.  But I sit all day, so really need to watch what I eat otherwise I gain it twice as fast!

I also had a lot of water.  About 3 x 20oz worth of the wet stuff.  I was running to the washroom every hour!!!

I’ll probably have a late snack as well – usually it’s cereal.  I find as I get older, I need to have my fibre.  So normally it’s something like regular Cherrios with a 1/3 cup of a high-fibre cereal and milk.  Seriously though regardless of your age you should be having a lot of fibre.  It makes you feel full, and helps control cholesterol.  Porridge is a great source of fibre – just make it with very little to no sugar or other sweet stuff added to it.

Exercise/Activity

I was on an hour long conference call today, and had my wireless headset on so could pace my office.  I managed to get in about 400 steps.  Not bad, but definately not enough.  Hope to get out tonight and do some walking or playing Wii with my son as he really can’t go out too much due to severe allergies this year.

Did go out for a short walk and managed to get in just over 2,000 steps.  So a step (pun intended) in the right direction.

I don’t go to the gym – too expensive, and I get bored easily.  But I did spend money on a cool iPod Touch and loaded it with tunes from iTunes and from Napster (after they went legit) and will take that with me on my walks.

I’ll weigh myself next Thursday around 6:00am and will share the results with you.

I’ll also work on some side shots so you can see the difference… well, actually I’m not sure if I’m ready to share pictures yet.  We’ll see.

I will share with you what I’m having daily so that you can follow along and see what I’m doing to lose weight.  Chris over at The Second Coming Of Chris said this:

“I deprive myself of nothing, but don’t over-indulge or gorge on anything.”

Exactly.  I eat what I want, and what I like – but I don’t over-indulge nor do I gorge or binge.  I satisfy my cravings, and that is what has made me successful in my weight loss.

Till tomorrow…

Mohamed

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Can’t Control Junk Food?

FRIDAY, May 1 (HealthDay News) — Two areas of the brain work together to give some people the self-control to reject unhealthy foods, a new study has found.

California Institute of Technology researchers used MRI to scan the brains of volunteers as they looked at photos of dozens of types of foods and decided which ones they’d like to eat. They found significant differences in the brain activity between people who had self-control in terms of making food choices and those with no self-control.

Previous research has shown that an area of the brain called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is involved in all value-based decisions. When vmPFC activity decreases, a person will probably reject an item, whereas increased activity means they’ll probably choose it.

The new study found that in people with no self-control, the vmPFC seemed to take into consideration only the taste of a food.

“In the case of good self-controllers, however, another area of the brain — called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) — becomes active and modulates the basic value signals so that the self-controllers can also incorporate health considerations into their decisions,” principal investigator Antonio Rangel, an associate professor of economics, said in a CalTech news release.

The researchers noted that the vmPFC is active during every decision and that the DLPFC is more active when a person is using self-control.

“This, ultimately, is one reason why self-controllers can make better choices,” Rangel said.

The study appears in the May 1 issue of Science.

Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_83698.html

Weight Loss Information From Around The Web

Here is some weight loss information gathered from around the web.  I am hoping to make this into a weekly post to bring you relavent news and information about weight loss.  I’ll present each post with a small snippet from the article.

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1189956/Why-crash-dieting-DOES-work-Surprise-evidence-suggests-best-way-slim.html“Here’s a sobering thought: beach weather is nearly here, and the diet you’ve been meaning to embark on since January remains in the planning phases.

  You really don’t want to expose those extra pounds to the world, but you do want to put on your swimsuit and feel OK about it. A crash diet seems to be your only option, but aren’t crash diets unhealthy – not to mention ineffective – after the first week? Not if you approach them correctly.

  Despite what many nutritionists have preached for years, low-calorie diets can be healthy if you do them right, and can work wonders on pounds and inches in just a few weeks.”

• http://www.canada.com/health/Weight+loss+lifestyle/1628412/story.html

  “Losing weight is all about choices, whether it’s food choices or lifestyle choices,” says Rick Sgabellone, an Ottawa father of two who has struggled for years to keep his weight under control.

• http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/151985.php

  The twin epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes will continue to fuel an explosion in heart failure, already the world’s most prevalent chronic cardiovascular disease, according to John McMurray, professor of cardiology at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, and President of the Heart Failure Association. He reported that around one-third of patients with heart failure have evidence of diabetes, and for them the outlook is very serious. For doctors, he added, effective treatment is “very difficult”.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

Is Playing Sports Better Than Exercise?

So what is wrong with this question – “Is Playing Sports Better Than Exercise?” – if you are paying attention you would probably figure out that they are one in the same!  When you play sports, you are getting exercise.  But it really is a trick question, because the word exercise is taken out of context – think of the question as “should I play sports to get exercise, or should I go to the gym for exercise” – really two different things.

So which is better?  Sports or the gym?

I have gone to the gym, and failed miserably.  I am not as regimented in that respect.  Though going to the gym you have the advantage of a personal trainer or at least someone to speak to to ensure that your workouts are accomplishing your fitness goals I’ve always found the gym boring and sometimes embaressing.  Where I used to live, I went to a gym on a fairly regularly – but it was full of muscular and thin men and women.  I felt out of place being a big guy.  In fact, I never saw big people at the gym.

Eventually I stopped going.

Over the last year, I’ve started playing more sports and going outdoors instead.  Partly to aid with weight loss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and also because my son who is now 6-years old has so much energy that we have to get him outside to burn it off.

I enjoy going outside more because I don’t have anyone watching me.  I can exercise at my own pace, and I have fun doing it.

I find that you get more of a rush when you’re outdoors enjoying the good weather and tossing in some exercise — it does not feel like exercise.  Going to the gym felt like work and it was boring, unless I could find someone to come with me — which was always easier said than done.

The verdict?  It is really up to you.  Either way you are getting a chance to work out your body, one is more regimented and does require a certain amount of will power but the other allows you to exercise on your own terms.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

Personal Hygiene For Men

Over the next few days/weeks I’ll be presenting a set of posts on personal hygiene for men – really, it’s meant for overweight men – but the topics covered will be of interest to others as well.

Being a big guy – big men are often judged on how they are dressed (and if you are in a long line up) how good (or bad) you smell and your general appearance.

Guys – appearance counts to everyone: your family, friends, the public, your employer, your co-workers – no matter what, people judge everyone by the way they look (whether they are the right weight, overweight or underweight).

Hygiene is not just about smell – it’s about personal grooming as well, things like getting regular haircuts, if you wear a beard ensure it’s trimmed nicely, making sure your fingernails are clean and cut (and yes, if so required going for a manicure), using an anti-perspirant (most have deoderants included), wearing colognes (evening) or using aftershave (during the day), taking care of your teeth (regular dental appointments, brushing, flossing). 

It’s also about washing your clothes regularly, changing under clothes often (a couple of times per day if so required) or even changing a shirt twice per day.  It can even include removing excessive hair on your body (under your arms and groin — don’t make faces!  If you’re an excessive sweater, and have seen a doctor they will ALSO give you that advice).

Guys – it’s the COMPLETE package!  This is not only to make you look good regardless of your size, but so that you look attractive to the opposite (or same sex, depending on how you swing), and when you’re at work you’re not looked at as the “big guy” – but as part of the crowd because you do take care of yourself.

You may be thinking that this is “girly” – after all most women can easily spend hours on personal grooming (women reading this – no I’m not stereotyping you, and actually admire women who do take the time to ensure that they look good).

So stick with me over the next few days, and weeks and you’ll be treated with some practical advice on staying fresh, and looking good!

Mohamed

Eat Food – Lose Weight!

When I first started dieting – years, and years ago, I thought that the best way to lose weight was to starve yourself.  So I’d skip meals – breakfast, maybe lunch but then would really sabotage myself as dinner would be HUGE and since it was such a large meal, I’d feel tired after eating and rather than exercise I would plop down on the couch and sleep or watch TV.

This went on for years, until I tried some other programs – which succeeded in helping me loose weight – but I promptly put the weight back on after I left the program.

Then FINALLY my doctor said “do or die” and I made complete lifestyle changes.  No diets!

I started eating regular meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner.  And I snacked, and snacked, and snacked until I was so full that I couldn’t eat anymore!  Snacks consisted of crackers and cheese, carrots, cucumber, fruits like strawberries, melons, kiwi, oranges, apples and grapes.  But I didn’t limit myself to the same boring stuff day after day.  I’d try mixing it up and adding stuff like bran buds or yogourt.  I’d also have cereal as a snack.

Variety is what really helped me lose 100lbs in one year.  And now that I am back to a variety of foods, I’ve lost about 15lbs in around 4 months.  Not to shabby!

On top of eating less food, more often I also started drinking a lot more water.  I found the water more refreshing that having a soda pop.  In fact there were times when I would be craving a soda and may give into that craving only to find that I still had that craving.  I drank some water, and found that the craving was not for soda, but for water or rather something cold and refreshing.

The soda pop just slows you down – makes you sluggish; but the water is really refreshing!  Even now, I tend to drink 8-10 glasses of water each day.

Regular meals, that are part of a lifestyle change will do more than any fad diet will ever do.  Although I always hated it, I did count calories.  For example, a donut and coffee for breakfast?  Probably about 600 calories.  How about cereal with milk, fruit and tea?  Probably around the same BUT I’ll feel full longer!

I had three main meals, then would snack between meals.  I found that this was the best way to keep me on track.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

Can Milk Help You Lose Weight?

When I was first told to “lose weight” or else, my doctor suggested many things to me – one of the best suggestions he had given me was to drink milk.  At the time he said that there was new research that showed that the calcium in milk will help break fat down.

So I started drinking milk regularly – at least before I went to bed each night.

Now I don’t think that the milk was entirely responsible for me losing 100lbs in around one year – it may have helped or quite possibly it was the placebo effect

As you know I’ve been struggling to start losing weight again, and about 2-3 months ago when I was super hungry one evening rather than gulp down soda pop and chips I stopped for cereal.  Of course cereal isn’t complete without milk – so had some 2% with it.

I’ve noticed that since I started drinking milk in the evenings, I am starting to lose weight again — remember I’m also combining this with important lifestyle changes such as controlling the types of food that I eat and exercising or getting more active.

There is research being done on this topic – here are a few sources for you:

• http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/home_4406_ENU_HTML.htm
• http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/weight_loss/weight_loss_tips/milk_calcium.htm
• http://www.webmd.com/news/20000417/calcium-low-fat-diet
• http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00729170 (STUDY)
• http://www.physorg.com/news156076519.html

Now that being said, there is also information out there that says calcium does nothing to promote weight loss.  Who is right?  Who knows.  Here are a few links that say otherwise:

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15939853
• http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/calcium.asp#h6 - …”Despite the hopeful results of these studies, other recent clinical trials make it clear that the involvement of calcium and dairy products in weight regulation and body composition is complex, inconsistent, and not well understood. For example, one study in young women of normal body weight found that higher intakes of dairy products had no effect on weight or fat mass over the course of one year. Another study in which 100 overweight and obese pre- and post-menopausal women on reduced-calorie diets received either 1,000 mg/day calcium or a placebo for 25 weeks found no significant differences in weight or fat loss between the groups. Similar results were obtained in a study of 1,471 postmenopausal women (somewhat overweight on average) who were randomly assigned to take 1,000 mg/day calcium or a placebo for 30 months, though there was a trend toward greater weight loss in those who took the calcium supplement and whose calcium intakes from food averaged less than 600 mg/day. Clearly, larger clinical trials are needed to better assess the effects of calcium and dairy products on body weight, composition, and fat distribution.” (Note that the emphasis is mine)

The other advantages I found by drinking milk is that it made me feel full longer.  Milk is also refreshing – much better than soda pop, and a cold glass of milk cools the body down as well on a hot day.

So while more research need to be done, ultimately the way to lose weight is not by looking for the magic pill – because there is none – but by making positive lifestyle changes.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

50 Weight Loss Tips – Tip 6

Here is a weight loss tip that is virtually guaranteed to help you shed a few pounds.

Preoccupy yourself.

That’s it.  That is the one tip that will help you lose some weight.

Why does it work?  Here is the explanation.

When I was at my heaviest, and when I was told “lose weight, or die” I looked at what I was doing and found that most of the time I was bored.  So I sat and watched tv.  A lot of TV.  To kill time between channels or shows, I would eat.  

Then as I started my lifestyle changes (which resulted in weight loss) I made better use of my time.  I went away from TV and tried to occupy myself.  We had purchased a house, so kept myself busy with yard work – mowing the lawn, taking care of it, weeding, watering – you name it, I would do it.  I’d be drained when I was done, but you know what – I kept myself busy and away from the TV and I wasn’t bored!

I bought a bike and rode around the neighborhood until I started riding a few miles each day.  I really enjoyed that.

At work I took walks during my 1-hour lunch break.

Boredom is a sure way to gain weight, especially when you are prone to weight gain – boredom is your mortal enemy.  By doing something, maybe even reading a book (outside) you keep your mind active and engaged.  If you can keep yourself from getting bored by doing light exercise – like a walk, or going out of the house you’re sure to beat it and stay away from the fridge or pantry.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

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