New way of eating - one day at a time

[JohnLarson]

Weigh-in Day!

238.8 - that is 3.8 pounds down for the week.

BS: 163

I was not 100% on plan, but I was close. Can count on one hand the non-program food that I consumed. I also was not as physically active as I have been in the past weeks. I did commit to be part of a runners club and I will join them Wednesdays and Sundays and participate in there interval training (sort of like C25K).

I have really started to get into running/walking. On Saturday morning we drove to another town that will be having a 5k for an animal shelter next week. They had a gathering to go over the route. We meet some nice people. There are lots of hills on the course. Then Saturday night we went on Fort Bragg for their monthly 5k, but this one was at night time and people wore glow sticks. It was a huge turnout and was fun. Most of our friends just walked it, but three of us ran/walked. Then four of us meet up on Sunday morning at 9 am and ran/walked 4 miles. My wife and I have been doing a Sunday morning walk for quite a while now. Then Sunday evening I meet up with the running club and ran/walked 3 miles. My wife didn't come to the Sunday night meetup.

My wife and I have fitbits and she is good at getting up early and doing the treadmill and then coming home from work and getting on it. I do good on the weekends, but during the week I get slack. I got up early this morning and did 30 minutes on the treadmill. I could have gotten up a little earlier.

My running goal is to be able to run a whole 5k without stopping to run. I think I can do this by October. We shall see, I think running will be easier once some of this weight is gone. There is no reason not to expect that I won't be lighter in 10 weeks.

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi, Good luck with your 5K!! I am a lapsed (hoping to return on some level!) runner and it is so motivating to have a tangible goal to go for! The running community is also so friendly. Happy training!!

[JohnLarson]

Today is going very well.

I got up early for the second day and did the treadmill. I also avoided all temptations to take a small bite of CRAP that is in my house. I also did some good pushups and situps.

Last night I got real busy and didn't get home until almost 10 pm. I wasn't hungry and felt it would be best to just have a snack of popcorn if I got hungry. Before I knew it, I was heading to bed. I didn't wake up starving either. Plus I didn't have to rush to the bathroom first thing.

I ate oatmeal w/ blueberries. It was the last of my gallon of fresh blueberries that I had frozen, sort of sad about that. I did have an early lunch with an extra big salad and my starch soup. I have found that if I let my book on the bag rice sit for 10 minutes after cooking, it absorbs more water and is fluffier than if I just take it out. I like it better after waiting the 10 minutes.

My dress pants that I am wearing are feeling fairly loose. I have 6 pairs of dress pants waiting for me the next size down. Plus I have another 6 pairs of dress pants and 6 pairs of jeans waiting after that. I am confident that in two weeks I will be one size down. I should be in the other clothes by Christmas. I am excited that I have clothes waiting for me.

Reading my old journal entries has helped me, I never expected that I would be an inspiration to myself. I know I can do this because I have done it.

[JohnLarson]

My blood sugar this morning was 123.

I was speaking with my wife this morning and told her how excited I was about my blood sugar number going down and my clothes feeling looser, she was quick to point out that I have not been 100% on plan. I sort of liked it better when she didn't know what was on plan. I am also guessing she knows when I eat off plan because it is her snack food I am getting into. I have done real good lately staying out of her junk food. What is crazy, she let's the stuff go bad. She will leave an open bag of chips laying around for over a week. Who does that? Right now, I am sure her double stuff oreos are going bad and I am going to let them go bad.

Instead of me thinking of them going bad or being a waste, I need to think of them as bad and being a waste right out the gate. Her SAD CRAP snacks are non-food to me.

I have been fairly focused now for a month now and I am really getting excited about being part of this way of life again. I am watching all sorts of you-tube clips and reading. I might even break out my copy of TSS and give it a re-read. I loaned it out a couple of times, but still have it.

I slept in a bit and didn't do the treadmill this morning, but I am going to the run club meetup tonight and will run 3 miles. Well run/walk. I also did do 12 good push-ups and sit-ups. I am sure I could do more, but I want to make sure I have good form and not get sloppy.

[JohnLarson]

I am back from my time with my family out of town.

I might have lost 1 lb. I am calling it even. I did not gain.

Blood sugar was 158 this morning.

I ate way too much bread and had a few "vegetarian" dishes that were not on plan at all. My mom was upset that I did not want to eat pie at a restaurant with her. Which was odd, since I have never been a big pie eater. Most of the time was "can you eat ____?" I tired to explain that it was about choices and that I can eat whatever I want, but choose not to eat certain things. I had good days and not good days. Just oils and flours. I still can't get over how much cheese and oils are in vegetarian dishes. One place had in the vegetarian section rice pilaf, but the rice was made with chicken stock? wtf! Also they had green beans soaked in some sort of oil. Crazy.

I went to the VA for lab work and will see my doctor September 20th. I think I will bring my scale, I am starting to doubt that I started at 260, because my clothes did not start feeling looser until I started this WOE. What ever my start weight was, I know I am losing by how my clothes fit. I am on my last belt hole. I have used every hole on this belt. The last two just recently. My pants fall down without unbuckling.

Doing the treadmill tonight!

I still think about this visit. My mom still questions some things, but she really got to see the results the following year. even today I am much better off than I was even this day. It was so crazy at the truck stop her getting upset about me not being willing to eat some pie with her. My mom is type one diabetic. I bet she ate ice cream every other day. I am trying to think of any day where we were driving and we didn't stop somewhere for ice cream. I am sure she expected for me to eat some.

I did learn on this trip that vegetarian and vegan meals were not always (if ever) healthy. It is much easier just ordering two potatoes and some sides than trying to get something on plan. It is hard enough to get steamed veggies with nothing added.

[JohnLarson]

I didn't weigh in this morning, was running behind. I haven't really thought much about the scale the past few days. My 38" waist pants are feeling a little loose, but my 36" pants are too tight to wear. I can button them, but not quite there. I am thinking soon.

This weekend was fairly busy. Had a 5k Saturday morning, my wife beat her best time. I ran with her. I bought an interval timer (Gym Boss) and it was set to walk for one minute and run for one and a half minutes. It was a hilly course and we enjoyed it. On Sunday mornings we have been going to a park to run. I increased the run time by 15 seconds. She ran with her sister, so they were a little behind. I ran with my sister in law who is 20 years younger than me. We did good. she is good runner. Then on Sunday night we meet up with the running club and ran another 3 miles. My wife did the increased run time with me, there was only two intervals that we skipped and twice we stopped early. It was lots of hills. The first bit of the course was over a mile up a hill. This morning I am a little sore.

Food this weekend was good. Ate on plan at Cracker Barrel on Saturday, was asked if I was back on the potato diet. Sunday I had stir-fry, plus I made some cauliflower bites. Good stuff.

[JohnLarson]

Weighed in today. I lost weight, but not as much as I was losing.

My clothes are more loose and I feel great, no caffine since I have been back home. Only have been on the treadmill twice last week. I am going to start making that a daily routine. I am also going to cut back on how much I eat certain foods. I think I have gone over board with my veggie tacos and popcorn.

Really, losing 17 pounds in 5 weeks is pretty damn good. The first 15 sort of fell off. I am going in the right direction.

Off to the treadmill.

What is crazy is that I am going through the same thing again, my clothes are feeling more loose, but the numbers on the scale are not reflecting it. I have am still very much caffeine free. I have not done much treadmill lately either, but I have been active with my running. I am now running about a mile and then walking for a minute and running for two minutes for another 2 miles. My goal is to be able to run a whole 5k. My plan is to do this at a 5k in October. I think it is October 17th. On Sunday I did this twice, the second time it started to rain, so I ran in the rain for the first time, it was a a real heavy rain storm. Right now I am running Wednesday nights, Sunday mornings and Sunday nights. We also normally do something on Saturdays.

Monday was Labor Day and we had the day off, a bunch of us went hiking at a state park, we hiked for 3 1/2 hours. I am a little sore. I was a little sore after Sunday.

Food has been good. I have been making big salads and eating plenty of potatoes. I did make stir-fry on Sunday and have some left. normally, I would have ate it all, but I was full and saved some for later. I will make even more rice when I eat it.

[Morris]

It is frustrating when you don't see the scale move, but you see other changes. I went through something similar when I first started to lose weight I was stuck at a certain pound number for 1 year, but dropped a size or two. People kept asking me if I was losing weight and I'd say no, but I am losing inches. So don't get discouraged about the scale not moving, it will start moving again as your body makes adjustments.

[JohnLarson]

We had $20 worth of JC Penny gift certificates that came in the mail a few days ago. Most of the time my wife and kids use these up. I mentioned to my wife that I would like a to get a new belt. She mentioned that I could use the gift certificates for a belt.

So I went to JC Penny's and while there, I thought I would see if I could fit into some 36" waist loose fit Levi's. I was wearing 40" waist 560 (very loose fitting) when I started this WOE and recently found some 38" waist 569 (also very loose fitting) in storage that I had out grown. I was very excited to be wearing the 38" waist. So I tried on some 36" 569. The were still pretty loose. So I grabbed some other loose fitting Levi's and a pair of "regular" cut 505. Thy 505's fit pretty good. I was thinking about buying the 505 jeans as I was surprised that they fit. I still not had even looked at belts and had been going back and forth trying on jeans. Then I thought I would try on some 501's, just to see how far I still needed to go. Maybe I will just wait to fit into some 501's before buying any jeans. I was pretty sure I would not be able to get them over my thighs and this would get me back to shopping for a belt.

They fit. I called the wife and bought three pairs of 36" Levi button fly 501's and a 36" belt. I still have lots of weight to lose, maybe one day these jeans will be baggy or loose on me.

I posted in my current journal about pants and jeans, I remember this day very well. It was a big deal.

[JohnLarson]

A few quick updates to my journal.

This past Saturday I went with my wife to "our" resturant, a local Mexican place where we went on our first date. We have gone there pretty much regularly for the last nine years. This was our second time there since I changed how I eat. The waitress asked me what I was doing to get skinny. That was very cool.

A month ago I bought new jeans (size 36 waist). In my excitement, I got 30" length as my baggy loose fitting jeans were that length. It was pretty noticabe that I should have gotten 32" length. I could wear them low and was just going to live with it. Today it was bothering me, so I called JC Penny's and explained that I had been wearing the jeans for a month, but they were the wrong size. They said if I am not happy to bring them in. I used my JCP card, so they could look up the purchase and exchange them. I gathered them all up and exchanged them, no hassle at all. To make it even better, the ones I got are size 34. Yep, 34 x 32 Levi 501's.

Had to share!

Along the same pants conversation. I was just a little under 220 at this time. I am thinking I was 217. This was a big deal. I had no idea that I would be able to fit into the 34" waist jeans, I was just wanting longer ones.

[SilverDollar123]

Hey John,Miss you. Don't let the cold weather here in NC keep you from letting us know
how you're doing. Bye for now. RAS

[JohnLarson]

Hey John,Miss you. Don't let the cold weather here in NC keep you from letting us know
how you're doing. Bye for now. RAS

I have not been posting much here on on Facebook. Things have been a little busy, but going well. Eating mostly potatoes this week. Miss my spicy brown rice.

Will get more active soon. The cold has kept me from going to the gym, which is frustrating. I can almost fit into my 34" waist Levi 501's. I am staying away from the scale, trying to not be in "diet" mode. People are starting to comment on my weight loss.

[SilverDollar123]

Hey John! Where are you? It's April 1st. want to hear how you are doing? RAS

[Wild4Stars]

Hey John! Where are you? It's April 1st. want to hear how you are doing? RAS

Me too!