The Struggle Continues

I've fought weight almost my whole life and have tried so many different things to make eating right a way of life. One of the tools I stumbled on a few years ago was http://fitday.com. The nice part about this website is it archives weight related info. From journal entries, activites and foods, this website offers you a glimpse into your past as it were. Well, in an attempt to find out what my weight was in the lighthouse picture with Shannon I was able to determine my weight in that picture was roughly 206 lbs. I'm going to include a sampling of some of the journal entries. You'll be able to see a thread of optimism at each start, of which there are several starts. One that particularly stood out was that in January 2006 my all time heaviest was 273 lbs. ironically enough, that's my starting weight with this program too. Here are the entries, just for archival purposes. Starting with Jan-06 going backwards to May-02. Incidentally, I started using fitday.com to continue to track my progress.

PAST JOURNAL ENTRIES ON FITDAY.COM
1/30/06
Weighed in at Weight Watchers at 273 pounds. That's my all-time highest weight ever. They are setting a 10% goal for me to lost 27 pounds in this 12 week program. The cost for the program was $135.00.

Shannon and the kids are going on this diet with me. I'm not sure what Shannon weighs but she says she is at her all-time highest weight ever too. Nate weighs 266 pounds. He's all of 1-2" taller than I am but that's still bigger than he needs to be and bigger than he wants to be. Katelyn doesn't need to be on a diet but we've noticed that with us being so conscious about our food choices, she's been opening up to trying different things. This is a big plus for a little girl that always orders chicken nuggets with ranch and is very picky about what she eats.

Execise will be the challenge for me. I have made attempts to walk in the plant for 15-20 mins. before but I am going to have to stick to it this time if I expect to get the results I'm hoping for. According to Fitday I have to lose about 3 pounds a week if I want to be down to 200 pounds by July 1, 2006.

I've noticed that there is a stronger sense this diet will work since we are all on it together. We're surrounding ourselves with healthier choices and marking boxes with point values plus I am trying to log info in Fitday to track progress.

2/7/06
Starting Weight = 273
Current Weight as of 2/6/06 = 267

A new Tracking website is

www.sparkpeople.com
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11/24/04
According to http://www.caloriecontrol.org/calcalsm.html

I need to maintain a caloric intake of 2500 calories to maintain a weight of 180 lbs.

At my current weight 240 lbs. to maintain this weight I need to eat 2875.5 calories.

1/9/03
I did some reviewing of my journal from April/May 2002, I am embarassed that I dropped the ball so badly. I was dazed by my success but in tracing the dates I also found out that my grandfather had passed away and directly after we got home from his funeral we took our dogs back to the breeder.

There is a lot of emotional stuff that happened that diverted my attention away from my healthy lifestyle I was trying to achieve. After just losing my grandfather and taking my dogs back to the breeder (for various reasons), I found that I was tumbling into a state of semi-depression. I have started once or twice a week to walk and will track my progress here.

1/8/03
Today I didn't do so well on my water intake like I would have liked to. However, you can't argue with results, I lost 3 pounds of water weight. I had to get up 3 times yesterday during my nap to go to the bathroom. I knew I would lose something. It will be a couple of days before I lose anything else but it was a nice way to kick start the new eating plan.

I did enjoy a good sub from Subway, it's an excellent alternative to eating fast food and I find it very filling. In fact with me drinking milk with my meal I get fuller faster and was able to just limit myself to a 6" sub vs. a 12".

Another tip I find that curbs my appetite is drinking tea. I can't explain what that does vs. drinking coffee but it helps sooth my hunger a bit. Part of curbing my hunger also has included identifying the triggers for overeating or unnecessary eating.

The definition of overeating is the same but unnecessary eating is eating for the sake of eating, that is a very useful problem to identify and eliminate. It could potentially shed 10-15 pounds immediately. Not surrounding myself with quickly grabbed and munchable foods will help curb this. Foods that require preparation are better to have around I am less likely to be cumpulsive with food that needs to be warmed up or thawed. Preventing quick fixes like this will surely lead to shed pounds also.

1/7/03
Began a new customized eating plan today. Being on Midnight Shift it's difficult to plan your meals. My overall goal (180 pounds by July 1, 2003)may seem unrealistic based on how much time I am willing to put into exercise but I am going to try it nonetheless.In addition to my goal weight I am setting a goal of increasing my intake of water, lowfat/no fat milk, vitamins and cutting out soda pop, and lowering my salt intake. The results will be measured daily.

My water intake goal=6-8, 8 oz. glasses a day

My Milk intake 8-10 oz. minimum daily for calicium and for a fuller feeling during my meals

My goal is to limit my soda pop intake to only on the weekends and at that 1 can a day for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and it will be diet pop.

My salt intake will be limited to a very small portion if used at all.

My exersise goal will be to increase my activity level to 15-20 minutes daily like walking and perhaps jogging in place on our trampouline (small indoor).

1/6/03
Today is the official beginning of the new diet year. I have gorged myself till I can't think of anything I didn't eat or pig out on in anticipation of going on a diet. I am officially ready to give up junk for awhile in favor of a healthy lifestyle.

One key to my success is having the support of my wife. She and I work terrific together when it comes to losing weight. We are failures at helping each other maintain. To put it in terms I best relate to, "it's either feast or famine".

My last weight entry with Fitday.com was 225 lbs. I began again entering information here at a starting weight of 230 lbs. That's not a real bad weight gain when you look at it in terms of only gaining 5 lbs. in 8 months time and that includes holiday weight.

5/2/02
Thursday May 2, 2002

ACTIVITIES:

Busy day today. I slept a total of 4 hours and never stopped the whole day. I had some errands to run and then had a rehersal for a concert I am in on Friday. The total rehersal time took up a little over 3 hours. I entered in the time as my activity for the day in addition to walking 3 miles.
I got on the scales this afternoon when I got up and had dropped another pound. The walking is really paying off and I am still not feeling that hungry. My appetite has quieted tremendously. It seems like the more weight I lose the less hungry I feel only because I am afraid of putting those pounds back on when I have worked so hard to shed them.

My caloric intake suffered drastically today due to my busyness. I had only enough time in between everything I was doing to eat a Slim Fast bar and a yogurt.

5/1/02
Wednesday May 1, 2002

ACTIVITIES:

Today I put in an extra mile only because I felt like it. I brought my CD player along and listened to music. It really made the time go by fast. I am still having to contend with that blister on my foot but I am not letting it stop me from getting my walks in. Kathy actually put in an extra mile too today she wound up walking 4 miles with me. I figured since I was used to putting in 4 on my own I would continue the trend.

I also got out and shot some baskets to break up the monotony of walking a little. That was quite a work out in itself.

GOALS:

I decided to up my goals a little from 200 by June to 190 by July. I hope I can stay on track. After yesterday losing the weight I did I felt motivated. I am starting now to get my thoughts and frame of mind in order so that when vacation gets here I will not blow all this hard work. The most difficult thing will be to get back on a regular schedule of exercise if I get off it on vacation. I am going to have to find some outlet to get some sort of work out in. Maybe spend time in the pool swimming or going for lots of walks and trying to keep track of the time we spend and the distance we walk. Then there is the eating. I am going to keep myself eating low calorie meals if I can at all help it. I have gone too far to turn back now and if I can get down to 190 I'll feel even more motivated to eat right.

5/10/02
Weight at 206 lbs.