mypetfat

20LBS in 10 DAYS...

When I hit scales at the gym today I was down 20LBS in 10 DAYS!, now I know that's not all water weight. Thanks to "The Beck Diet Solution" screwing my head on straight, I'm eating CONSISTENTLY better and I'm getting to the gym 6 out of 7 days. But I think the biggest change I've seen is the elimination of my "car + late night" snacking cravings that have always been a challenge for me.

I was so jazzed about what the scale said that when I did my incline treadmill training this morning I burnt through 555 CALORIES in 30 MINS!

Here's What I Look Like @ 175LBS

and with my new "mindset" I'll see 175LBS again on the scale, "Fully Clothed". My mission in 07, 175LBS deja vu!

Go To The Gym In The Morning

Until I officially start next Monday, Day 15, Bill Phillip's "Body For Life" eating plan, I'm trying to eat mostly protein and veggies, staying away from most starches.

No gym this morning as I woke up around 2:30 and tossed and turned until about 7:00 am, and then I finally got up. Too late for the gym, I'll go tonight, so I made myself two eggs with a little cheese and 4 strips of bacon.

As usual I had my Starbuck's 1/2 caf with half and half and one Sweet & Low.

For lunch I had some of Famous Dave's Georgia pulled pork sans any of their barbeque sauce and a Diet Pepsi.

I had enough at lunch that I passed on dinner and headed straight for the gym to do my upper body work out, but I have to be HONEST, I always intend to work out strong at night when I go, it's always a struggle. I find I go through the motions more often than not as I'm more of a morning gym person.

STICK TO GOING TO THE GYM IN THE MORNING.

But I went and I did workout, that's better than not.

16LBS in 7DAYS

As Dr. Beck say's, you have to know that the scale is not going to always move in the direction you want it to, and I clearly get that. So I'm pleased that this mornning when I weighed in "Fully Clothed" and the scale was 16LBS less than it was last Monday, I have to admit I was very excited.

But there's something different this time.

All last week applying Dr. Beck's principals it felt that the further I went into the week, the easier it got.

In fact, the further into the week I went, the less I thought that I was really doing anything that special. I'm feeling more in control and I also believe being HONEST with myself and my diet coaches really helps a lot.

The other thing that's helping me is that I updated and I using again the EVOLUTION CALENDAR that I created a while ago to visually motivate and remind myself that if over a years time I can average losing 3LBS a week, little by little, I can lose over 150LBS.

And yes I know that the longer your body is in a weight loss mode, they'll be times when you hit a plateau, and many times the scale may even go up a few LBS, but for some reason I finally feel that my "thinking" is now serving me vs. sabotaging me.

Stayed tuned and see what EVOLVES...

[ I also know that some of that 16LB weight loss is the old first week water-weight bump that we all get ]

No "WEIGH"... Today

Yesterday I had said I was going to weigh in this morning but I'm going to use the "NorEaster" that's hit our area as an excuse. The only scale I can weigh in on is either at the gym or at the hospital because I threw out our scale [read my March 27th posting] a couple of weeks ago after discovered that it was possessed.

Yes, I'm going to leave in a few minutes to treat myself to a Starbuck's, but I really want to get back to the house to finish up some writing this morning for an exciting new product we're going to be releasing soon.

Until I officially start Bill Phillip's "Body For Life" plan on Day 15, I'm going to try to do my best to eat less carbs without going crazy as I usually fell much better overall and seem to retain less water when I eat less carbs.

So for now I'm having a little half + half in my Starbuck's coffee with one Sweet + Low. Soy has carbs and extra sugar. For breakfast I had a piece of turkey sausage and then I was off to the grocery store to pick up some healthy food to have i the house for the week. Over the past year we've really lessened the amount of snacks and processed food we buy. As far as shopping healthy we're pretty good at that.

My food issues are out of the house, snacks in the car, and letting go in the evening at dinner. That's where Dr, Beck's help comes in.

For lunch I had a hamburger with a couple pieces of cheese, but no bread. Later in the afternoon I had another hamburger.

Tonight Kim is making Tamari chicken with onions, mushrooms and potatoes. And anticipating I might want a sweet treat tonight I made a big batch of sugar-free Jello and I bought some Reddi Whip whipped cream which is low in carbs as well.

You know Jello has a pretty cool web site, to view CLICK HERE.

No "WEIGH"... WAY

As I mentioned in my earlier posting, my noe declared official weigh in day is now Sunday morning. So this morning I headed for the gym to do my scheduled aerobic training for today and to make up for the legs + abs day I was supposed to have had yesterday. So first stop, a little treadmill incline training. 65 mins later...

I burned 1045 calories, traveling 2.77 miles.

Then I did a strong leg workout, but I held off on doing abs until tomorrow.

On the way home I got a Starbucks venti 1/2 caf with h+h as I decided that until I'm "o-fish-ally" on the "Body For Life" plan I'm going to do a little carb cleansing.

I know lots of people are anti lo-cab but for me I really like how it feels. The weight loss is nice, but it's also as much that I don't feel as bloated as I do even when I'm eating more complex carbs vs. refined carbs.

The reason I always fell any the lo-carb plan was that sooner or later I just couldn't seem to resist a good carb hit, and when I let go and started eating carbs again, I was like a carb-addict and I couldn't get enough until I had binged on them.

So let me be clear, I am not going crazy lo-carb. For now in this moment I'm "thinking" about seeing if over the next few days if I can do a carb-cleanse and apply Dr. Beck's "thinking" to help me still stay on track with "thinking + doing" the right thing.

So we all went out for a family breakfast at Raymond's. Kim and I "1/2-ed" a bacon, avocado, scallion omelet and I had a side of bacon.

We had a late breakfast and afterwards Kim and I had a lot of things to get caught up on so before I knew it, it was dinner time. Matt had plans and Kim and Jen wanted Italian food so we headed off to one of our favorite Italian resturants called Angelo's. Thanks to reading my "Advantages of Losing Weight" list I EASILY never touched or desired any bread, I ordered a tomato salad before dinner and for my entree I had their very tasty shrimp in tomato sauce. That was it, other than lots of water w/lemon. No dessert, nada!

What a Pleasant Surprise!

Now I really didn't eat that much yesterday but considering I had two late afternoon salty snacks and a late night bowl of oatmeal, I would have thought the scale wouldn't have moved as much as it did this morning. "Fully Clothed" on the gym scale, I weighed in at 337LBS, down 4LBS from yesterday. Maybe my week and a half of consistent exercising has awakened my metabolism. Anyway, I'm not complaining as I'm down 8LBS in only 3DAYS. Yes, probably 1/2 of that may be water-weight but I like what I'm "thinking + seeing" on the scale.

This morning I had to do a little catch up with my "Body For Life" training. I had intended to get to the gym last night but by the time we got done, I passed. So this morning I spent the first 45 mins. doing my upper body training, and then I did a very easy 30 mins. on the treadmill just to get a point-of-reference to the difference in calories I burn when I do incline training on the treadmill vs. when I walk, jog or run on a flat level.

So taking it easy, walking, with no incline, 1.48 miles at a pace of 3.0 mph., I burned 264 calories. The same time on the treadmill, working back and forth between level 10.0 - 15.0, even at a slower speed I would usually burn between 500 - 600 calories in 30 mins.

INCLINE TRAINING RULES!

For breakfast I had my usual Starbucks 1/2 caf with Silk soy milk and a bowl of oatmeal with dried cranberries.

In hind sight I really should have "1/2-ed" my lunch. Anybody who's ever had Qdobo knows that their burritos are very large, and usually I have their gumbo or their salad, but today I had one of their very tasty Poblano Pest Chicken Burrito's thinking that maybe it was say 600, maybe even 700 calories, nope... 1070 calories.

The great thing about Dr. Beck's plan is that I'm Ok with 1070 calories, it is what it is. No reason to feel that I've blown anything, in fact it's nice to "now know".

In fact, I also learned that Qdobo has a very cool nutritional calculator, CLICK HERE.

You know whatm I think with a little creative license, one of Shakespeare's famous quotes can be applied to how we should "think" about "weightloss, our scales, the food we eat and calories too" as in...

There is nothing [weight, scales, food, calories] either good or bad, but "thinking" makes it so.
William Shakespeare, "Hamlet", Act 2 scene 2
Greatest English dramatist & poet (1564 - 1616)

Things Are Going My "Weigh"

This morning I weighed in on the scale at the gym down another 2 LBS weighing in "Fully Clothed" at 341LBS. Down 4LBS since Monday.

Just fantasizing but if I could lose weight at the rate of 2LBS of BODY FAT a day I'd reach my goal weight of 175LBS in 83 Days, now how cool would that be! Ok, just having a little fun.

Today is an upper body day on the "Body For Life" program but since I missed my ab workout from Monday I decided to get it in first thing this morning with the intention to do upper body tonight.

Breakfast was 1/2 a scrambled egg and ham on whole wheat in the morning with a Starbucks Venti 1/2 caf with Silk soy, with the other 1/2 later in the morning with a second Starbucks Venti 1/2 caf with Silk soy.

Lunch was a stuffed pepper on the run from an Italian deli and I had a major salt urge twice in the afternoon. First it was a bag of Cheese Nips [300 calories] and later on in the afternoon I had a bag of Quaker Oats popcorn cheese crisps [430 calories]. I did eat them sitting down though. I'm looking forward to having Dr. Beck help me move away from my later afternoon salt urges.

I had a banana before dinner, and I almost ate it out of habit, standing up, but I caught myself.

Kim and I were working late into the evening so at about 9:30 when we finally stopped, maybe I should have passed on eating anything before I went to bed but I ended up having a bowl of oatmeal with soy milk, sitting down.

Leverage Your Load!

One advantage of weighing a lot is that if you enter in your actual weight on a treadmill that has that function, you can see first hand how your body weight really can rack up a massive calorie burn.

I'm still amazed at how many people don't know that fact, but it's true, try it out.

For example...here's what my 65 mins on the treadmill produced this morning from my entering my "Fully Clothed" weigh-in this morning of 343LBS. By cranking up the level and intensity of the treadmill, traveling 2.64 miles, I burned 1103 calories!

So have some fun and "leverage your load" the next time you go to the gym by asking someone who weighs a lot less than you to join you side-by-side on a treadmill. Find a treadmill like the one I use, Life Fitness, where you can use their manual setting, enter in your weight, so that as you train, it calculate's your caloric burn based on weight.

Just enter in both of your weights, do the same workout, and you'll be amazed at how many more calories you burn that your friend. The bigger the difference in your actual body weight, the bigger the difference in how many calories you'll burn.

I'm down 2LBS from yesterday which makes sense based on what I ate and how I exercised.

I don't usually have a craving for a bagel but for whatever reason I had a strong one this morning. So instead of fighting the urge I ordered a "flagel", a flat bagel, with lite cream cheese to go along with my Starbucks 1/2 caf with Silk soy milk.

I had a Cosi Signature salad with chicken for lunch which is so delicious! Mixed greens tossed with red grapes, pears, pistachios, dried cranberries and gorgonzola, tossed with shallot sherry vinaigrette. I was just curious to see how many calories I ate so I checked out their nutritional info to learn that without the chicken, with the dressing is only 375 calories, the funny thing was that I could have almost had another salad in exchange for their whole wheat bread which is 270 calories.

Now this is an amazing testiment to "The Beck Diet Solution"
Jen wanted the family to go to Famous Dave's for dinner which I love. But here's what's amazing. They have great barbeque, unbelievable ribs and side dishes that make your mouth water. And they're BREAD PUDDING... So this was a test!

But you know what, it wasn't a test. I can honestly say that by reading before eating my "Advantages Of Losing Weight" list, it was as if I looked at the menu with a whole new mindset. No cravings, no having to "have willpower, no having to think " I couldn't have this or that".

I just simply wanted to make a healthy choice and enjoy it, and I did.

I ordered their grilled chicken salad, which is great. And then came the next big test, "no test". The kids ordered two orders of BREAD PUDDING and I didn't even have one bite. I did have one fleeting thought to have a few bites, but it was as if the notion flashed across my mind and it was gone. I experienced at that meal what it must feel like to "think like a thin person".

New week... new opportunity for success

After getting my early morning thoughts into my blog I was off to the gym for legs + abs. I did a "Fully Clothed" weight check on the gym scale and the scale came up at 345LBS. I've decided to not judge it, it is what it is, and today is another opportunity to make more healthy choices.

Because I got a late start this morning I did a moderate leg workout. I could have pushed harder but I still felt a burn in my muscles, they were awakened.

I saved my ab workout for the evening as in the past I never seemed to give my abs enough time so I've decided to divide and conquer my day and get back to the gym tonight to work my abs, maybe do some aerobics and do a little steam. Like most people before dinner, dinner and after dinner are the times that I have the most challenges to stay on plan. But if I know I'm going to the gym I never like going with much in my stomach. So that's less food before and during dinner and if I go late enough I can just some home pass the fridge, shower and hit the sack. That's my plan for the evening.

After the gym I came home, made some Starbucks decaf with Silk soy milk and I grilled a ham sandwich on rye on my George Foreman grill. I ate 1/2 for breakfast and saved 1/2 for my mid-moring snack.

Lunch was one of my old standby's, a griiled chicken salad and a diet rasberry Snapple.

Reading my "Advantages of Losing Weight" a couple times today really seemed to help because even though I still ate a snack on my drive home before dinner, it at least was a better choice than what I might have had without having read them. I stopped and got one piece of a thin crust fresh tomato and fresh mozzarella cheese pizza. Not a bad choice and it helped curb my hunger while we shopped at Whole Foods for some healthy ingredients to make dinner at home.

We ended up making bay scallops with a light ginger sauce. A delicious brown rice with coconut, cashews and pineapple, and a salad of bibb lettuce, endive, mint and mango with a peanut oil, mint and mago dressing. Very tasty and very healthy.

Overall for the day I am very please with my "thinking + doing" as I exercised. was very mindful and I ate healthy. The only thing I didn't "walk my talk" on was getting back to the gym at night to finish my "abs", as Kim and I got wrapped up with some work on a very exciting new product we're launching very soon. But there's always tomorrow.