Sunday, August 16, 2009

Week One, is now done!

Before you continue, I must warn you that there is an explicit image below of a beached whale standing on a scale. He has pants on, but no shirt, and it's a sight for sore eyes!

Well, week one passed with a modicum of success. Let me take the time to highlight last week's accomplishments. Last week, being at the beginning of the competition, I was the most excited and the most pumped about my ability to lose weight and have a change of lifestyle that will bring me the type of body that I want... permanently. The thrill of making that decision was strongest during the first 6 days, with the excitement of being thin fading and the realization of what "losing weight" really entails steadily growing. After day 6 my determination started to wane, especially, like I said yesterday, with the evils of restaurants tempting me. Okay, they're not so evil, they are just bad when it comes to trying to change your lifestyle.

I had a temporary change in schedule for the last two weeks. I started work at 3:00pm and then went until 11:30. I thought that this would wreak havoc on starting a diet, but it actually worked out well. I ate a reasonable breakfast and then a salad for lunch and then went to work and ate a salad for dinner at work. It was actually quite easy to follow the schedule. My worry is, though, now that I'm changing back to a normal nine-to-five schedule that I'll have a more difficult time.

This coming week, out of all weeks, will be the one that is going to be most difficult. My problem with food lies in three primary areas:
  1. Addiction to Food: I love food. Not only do I love food, I love ALL food. I love the taste of food, I love the smell of food, I love the look of food, I love to cook it, I love to eat it, I love to... okay, I think I'm being counterproductive now. Suffice it to say, I love food. I honestly think that my love of food will have to be conquered before I will be successful at being healthy.
  2. Portion control: Ahh, what a great problem to have when I'm addicted to food like I am. I don't want the 9 oz steak, which may fill me up. I want the 22oz steak which I can gorge on and fill me so full that I want to vomit for 3 days after if anyone mentions steak. Don't believe me? I ate here (The American Steakhouse), three times in the past year. Look at their menu and go down until you see the 650 gram rib eye steak. I've eaten that twice. 650 grams = 22.93 oz. That's right, I ate 1.5 pounds of steak and had room for sides and drinks. Again, let me reiterate, I love food and I love LOTS of it!
  3. Monkey see; Monkey Eat: Okay, that is a twist off of the adage monkey see; monkey do, but it fits. Teresa has pointed it out to me on several occasions. If I see food laying around, I eat it.
So, how is this going to cause me a problem in the week? Well, now that I'm going to be getting home around 6:00 in the evening, I'm going to be eating with the family. As much as Teresa will cook healthy food, she can't cook everything like I am going to need it made and still keep four kids happy. She will need to make something for them which is going to be less healthy for me, something other than salads, and I'm going to be tempted to eat it. Now, you're probably going to say, "But Steve, you need variety." Well, that would be nice, if I didn't have a problem with #2. I don't eat just a tiny bit, I eat everything on my plate, bowl, dish, platter, cup or whatever else is in front of me. This is going to test every bit of my self control. Being around kids and seeing what they are eating (Goldfish, string cheese, cookies, crackers, hot dogs etc,) isn't going to help either. I'm going to be very tempted to reach my hand in the package and grab some for myself. Again, this week will be my biggest test. On top of that, I am resolved to exercising enought to get my heart rate up for at least 30 minutes per day three times a week this week, that means being even more disciplined. Folks, if you want to see if I'm really serious about this change of eating habits and change of my life, you will see it reflected when I tell the weight of next Sunday's blog.

Well, enough about my last week. You know what I'm up against this week to come. To end this week, I'll finish it off with my results of my weigh-in.

Without Further Ado... And no, I didn't take this picture on the 31st of January, 2008, I just haven't set the date on the camera yet. I'll get to it for next week, I promise!


Starting weight: 260 Pounds
Current weight: 253 Pounds
Total Weight Loss: 7 Pounds
% Weight Loss this last week: 2.7%
% Weight Loss total Diet: 2.7%

Well, wish me luck, this week will try and test my will!

TTFN

Steve

16 comments:

Teresa said...

Wow honey! You are being very truthful on your love for food in this post. That is a great start. Good job on the seven pounds, and I will do everything I can to help you this week.

Just remember.... I LOVE you no matter what weight you are!!

Jason said...

Congratulations on the 7 lbs! When you were describing primary food problem #1 I have to admit I was getting pretty hungry. http://manercookbook.blogspot.com/ This is a link to a lot of foods that we have found that are lower in calories but still taste good! If you like what you see be sure to click older posts because there is a lot of stuff on there.

Mom said...

Congrats on the 7 pounds -- thats HUGH!! Of course you know thats not going to happen all the time, so you just have to hang in there and keep going!! Love you Mom

Unknown said...

WOW Schwester! You did AWESOME!!! I am so impressed with your honesty. Goodluck this week. I'm rootin' for ya.

Sue said...

Fantastic!! Great job! Very brave to post a picture, you must be serious! Can't wait for the picture in 6 months. I think that we all eat food when we see it, that is the reason for clean kitchens. I did find that hiding peanut m & ms in the freezer doesn't work, they are better frozen.

laura said...

Congrats on the 7 lbs!!
At one point, you said we could give advice/pointers... Here goes. I'm nervous about the two salads a day. Brian could NOT live on two salads a day. Where is your protein??? Did the salads have chicken on them? And I think you will just get burned out on them. Switch it up a little. Perhaps some Double Fiber Oroweat bread with sliced turkey, light mayo, mustard, tomato, lettuce and avocado AND a nectarine or apple. (notice NO cheese)
And with the Teresa cooking thing. You'll make yourself crazy if you have different meals going for different people. You just HAVE to use portion control. For example: If Teresa is making lasagna, bread and salad- you serve yourself up a HUGE salad portion(taking up 60% of your plate). Then get a smaller piece of lasagna and ONE slice of bread.
The EASIEST way to do this(in my opinion) is to join weight watchers. You could join online so that you could see the nutritional value of each food and learn what will fill you up AND is good for you.
Anyway, you've inspired me. I have wayyyy too much baby weight hanging around. I'll join you on your weight loss journey. Good luck.

Roger said...

Congrats on the 7 lbs!!!!!!!!!!
Remember what the good book says, " Man doth not live by salad alone."
If you intend to have a lifestyle change, you have to eat what you like, in moderation. And you have to like to eat healthy food.

Kristin said...

Way to go Bose! 7 pounds in 1 week is fantastic! When I started weight watchers the last time, I'd lost 4.5 pounds the first week and I thought that was awesome! Anywho, only 3 more days for me til I start WW again. :D Keep up the good work!!!

Steve said...

Thanks, everyone for your comments. I doubt that Roger will read this again, but I'm pretty sure that the phrase doesn't say anything about salads.

Roger said...

It all depends on what good book you read.

cognoramus said...

Steve, congrats on your progress. 7lb in one week is a great step. One thing I don't think anyone has suggested yet is the small adjustments to your lifestyle aside from eating. Take the stairs instead of the elevator at work. Three stories will burn some calories. Take a walk around the block with your family when you get home. Not only will it help lose weight, but it will help you sleep better when you get to bed. Stuff like that doesn't require a lot of sacrifice but it will add up. Good luck!

Steve said...

Ski,

I'm one step ahead of you. We started walking for 30 minutes every other day after work this week. We'll see how this week goes!

Sue said...

Sorry, I think that, for some reason, you will see a difference in 4 days a week walking where you might not with 3 days a week. It's like a plateau or something. At least that's true for me, and according to national guidelines. Maybe you can do an experiment.

Teresa said...

As far as the walking goes, I was planning on walking EVERY night. Why not?? The boys have caught on real quick too, and ask every night about our walking exercise. Even though they are all on bikes. :)

Steve said...

Well, my problem is that I'm busy on Wednesdays with the church and, I assumed, that I would be busy at least one other night. I'm game for it, it's not like I don't enjoy the walks.

Roger said...

Exercise vs. Diet for Weight Loss
My observation is not scientifically proven but it is based on the following.
1. I know lots of people who exercise and their weight does not change.
2. Most people I know will excercise and then justify eating more because of "all the calories I burn."
3. I have exercised faithfully for over 25 years and I am totally convinced of its great benefits, but I never lost weight until I changed my eating habits.

Do both - but you HAVE to change eating habits.