One Pound a Day?

I am finally back to my weight loss blog. Since last April 1, 2015 I have lost over 100 pounds. I have kept most off and have yet to reach my goal of 175 pounds.
I am hoping this log will serve to help me stay on track and maybe inspire some others about how to lose a very large amount of weight in a short time after years of being fat. April 1, 2015 I was at 315 pounds, this is my baseline weight I measure my success from. I was more than that a few times as my old leather belt can serve and a witness. The notches clearly show that I was at a size 46 waist. So I have lost more than the amount I was at my maximum but that is neither here nor there now. The main thing is to focus on the process and goal. Many are other people have had success with this process and you can too. [DISCCLAIMER: BEAR IN MIND, I AM ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT AN OTHERWISE HEALTHY PERSON. SEE YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER BEFORE DOING ANY SUCH DRASTIC CHANGE. I am not a medical expert nor have any experience to convey other than my own personal experience.]

This is day zero of my new plan for losing a “pound a day” and you can too. The method is pretty much what I have been using and used in the past. It is imperative that I stress that this has worked already for me and many others but your health issues may vary. If you happen to know of the taller portion of the magic and comedy duo, Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette, you know already the path I used to reach the first portion of my weight loss. Basically put, 1000 calories a day, vegan diet, no added sugar or salt and exercise. (for me) Do not worry, the exercise is really easy, mostly walking or normal activities you already do. For me mine is mostly yard work and tread mill. I am also doing the Pokemon GO game which I am using to help me walk more to reach the next levels. It is really a good thing to use to get you off your butt and move. Of course and variation you want to add is fine. The purpose is to make a real life change that will make you more fit and healthy.

Over the next few weeks I will go over methods and techniques I used to help me achieve weight loss success. These include what to eat, how to eat, and how to cook, and how to burn calories. (simple, move more) I also realize that my method is rather drastic to some people and they cannot deal with such a drastic change. I will discuss some options for that as well. If you are more of a person that eats out for their meals I will also discuss some options for that too. You can still go out to eat and stay in the guidelines. But be prepared to tell the server what you want and prepared to have it returned if they fall. (For some reason, they seem to think adding something “extra” is nice.) I am sure nothing I will write is new to any of you nor should it be. I would suggest a good scale and a food tracking app to help you as well. The one I use is called “My Plate” and is a free download. (Of course, they always ask you to “Go Gold” but the main functions are good for what you need to reach your weight loss goals.

Let’s deal with some terms first, most people like me, are at an unhealthy weight. I call that “fat,” “obese” or “morbidly obese.” It is better to accept these terms and understand them. It isn’t not an insult it is just how it is. For definitions there are websites to show what your body mass index (BMI) and basal metabolic rate is. Both are important to know what you’re doing and what you do daily to help reach your goals. There is not checking or system or anything but you to meet these goals. It is possible and it is maintainable. As we get older, we all have a slowdown of our metabolism and must adapt our diets to deal with the changes. When I was in high school I could eat 13 Hardee’s hamburgers for lunch and still be thin. By the time I was in my late 20s it was a struggle to keep the weight off. I am sure many of you can relate.

Bear in mind this will work for both men and women. Also, there is no need to take any “supplements” to aid in weight loss. As I said, unless you are otherwise healthy, this method will always work.

Some more basics, a pound of fat is 3500 calories. Simply put if you burn this much you lose this much. Simple as that. It is physics not magic. If you are 100 or more pounds overweight it is very easy to lose this by simple changes in your diet. Last year when I was at 315 pounds, my BMR was 2583. When I simply applied the diet level to my BMR I was guaranteed to lose a pound every two days if I simply stayed in bed and did my diet. So you can see that any additional movement will drastically help in all ways to aid in reaching this goal. Remember, the trick to weight loss is this, Eat less, move more.

Happy Darwin Day

Happy Birthday Charles.

Tomorrow represents the 202^nd anniversary of the birth of naturalist Charles Darwin. Regardless of a persons views on his work concerning natural selection, he certainly is a person that has influenced the world from his life's work. So go out and hug an ape.

Today is going to be another short day as I have got to get ready to go to Collinsville, IL and do some work. Plus Tonight Cheryl is going to be here so I want to be ready for her arrival.

Today was a very short walk. It is funny because it is as long as when I first started out back in December but now it is less than half of the distance that I cover. I weighted myself again Today and it seems like I might be at 256 pounds. That is twelve percent of my body weight that I have lost now and my blood pressure continues to stay in the “green” levels.

I find it so hard to deal with the long slow process of losing the weight. I mean the actual walking and watching food consumption is really hard. Plus when I look in the mirror and see how far I have yet to go to look the way I want to it seem like and unending path. I guess in a way it is.

That is the main reason I began this process of keeping a blog and recording my fitness numbers so I can have clear and tangible proof that I am actually moving toward my goal. How many of us have worked to lose weight and then after reaching a goal slack off and do not even realize that the weight lost comes back? It is that easy to gain weight. You don't have to do anything at all.

I know some people that can eat all they want, it seems, and are still skinny as a rail. That used to be me when I was in high school and college. But I think I was pretty active back then too. I did a lot of walking and was pretty active. Back then you had to go to an arcade and stand up while you played video games. Not these in home couch potato ones they have now. However I guess the manufactures are changing that too.

Highlights, I am at 307 miles which is enough distance to reach where Cheryl lives in Chicago. That also brings me to 17.5 percent of my goal of 1750 miles. This months average blood pressure is 125/77. Not too bad for a fat man, I say.

Keep on track,

Thomas

Going Off the Deep End

Cheryl is wearing a sleeping bag with arms.

Today it was a bit colder starting out. For which I was glad about. It is better when it is really frozen to walk instead of the “warmer” 32ºF. When it is 20ºF, like it was Today, it makes for the ice to be much harder and less water means less slipping. Remember you cannot slip on ice. You only slip on the water that is on the ice. I found that out yesterday. Near Lake Street on the way to Cheryl's office I took a picture of here all dressed up in her sleeping bag with arms and her “muffins” and flat head hat. She was the first one in the office I think Today.

Transformed into the RAMS.

At the reception desk, the letter of the firm she works for are there it is called MRSA. So named after the man's initial that started the firm. But I “knoticed” that if the numbers were rearranged it could spell MARS. There is a store across the street from there with that same name. And she told me that sometimes people rearrange the letters. So, being from St. Louis, I spelled “RAMS” with them. I thought it looked nice.

Home of the famous gum maker.

So Today I went down Madison to LaSalle then over to Wacker. [Cheryl used to live on Wacker.] Then through my astute powers of navigation I made my way down past WGN and NBC to the AMC Theater and on down to the Navy Pier. Once on the pier I walked all the way down to the end and took a few pictures. It was nice to see the city from the position. While I was on the pier I saw several ships that were docked. I guess they do cruises when there are more people about or when it is warmer. One of the ships, I believe it is called the Odyssey, had different times for cruises. The longest one was a three hour dinner cruise. I was thinking, No No! Don't take the three hour cruise. Remember what happened to Gilligan. Heck the cruise was so bad for the Skipper that he lost his name. I would have to guess for the cruises that are shorter that they just push you off the boat.

Where does this thing go to?

There was a lot of things on the Navy Pier to see including a round elevator. It didn't seem to really go anywhere. Maybe they put people in that while they are waiting for the lines at the Shakespeare Theater. That would make sense. I believe it was at the Chicago Tribune that they had stones from several prominent places in history. I got a picture of one rock from Pearl Harbor. They had them from all sorts of places. I would like to find out more about this.

The people were out good Today. They seemed to need to get from place to place and were in a hurry to get there. My total distance walked was 8.94 miles. This now puts my total percent of goal at more than 7 percent. Only 93 percent to go to reach 1750 miles. So far only 112 miles under my belt. I guess that is why it seems like it is taking so long. But at least I am seeing the numbers move toward my goal daily. That good.

Diet or No Diet

Diet is as important as exercise.

Plus I am really trying to watch what I eat. I am not so much restricting any certain foods to help lose weight. I am however certainly restricting some for over all health. Things such as hydrogenated oils and salt and added sugar are on my restriction list. Another thing it to try to reduce the amount of refined flour I am consuming. Whole grains are fine but this is still a guideline. Having more things like fruit and vegetables is always a good thing.

Home of some very good fitness tools.

I was checking my baseline metabolic rate on line and it says for my height and weight I should be at 2336kcal per day. This is, of course, if you want to keep that weight. My goal is to reach 200 pounds. At least this goal is. I may work more after I reach the “big” one first. But when I get to 200 pounds my metabolic rate to maintain that weight is 1900kcal. So an average of those two would give me around 2118kcal per day. That is still higher then the levels specified on food labels. So my percentages can be very little higher. Like for dinner last night we had baked Italian chicken and some broccoli with cheese sauce and some stuffing and store turkey gravy. We had no calorie lemonade to drink and latter on for dessert I had some strawberries and cherries with low fat whipped cream. I think all together it was about 700 calories. But I do need to use a calories tracker. You can find one at livestrong.com. It is very user friendly and helps you track the food you are eating plus the activity that you are doing for a overall view of what your fitness level is.

I think the better image of my activity and the progress I am trying to make the more likely I am to stick with it and be successful at it. After all isn't that the goal of any fitness program?

Keep on track,

Thomas

Snow Storms, Power Failures and Walking with Cheryl

Snow on yet another of Grant's parks.

Today is my first day to walk somewhere else other than Grant's Trail. I walked with Cheryl to her work and then did some extra walking after that. It was nice really not too many people out. Of course I didn't count the people I saw on the trail but I may do that tomorrow. But there were a few out. It is odd walking in a new place because I haven't got the rhythm of the place yet. But I think I did good for my first Chicago walk.

After I got started there were a few snow flurries. Nothing bad but they did hit me in the eyes a few times. On the way to Cheryl's work we went by the basilica of Oprah where she has several buildings and her Harpo studios. Nothing really outstanding about them from the outside but I am sure they were a anchor to help revitalize the area around there. There is nothing wrong with that.

Stepping out in Chicago.

So we went to Cheryl's office and I got to see that. They have lots of natural lighting and space. Makes you feel like you are in a warehouse of sorts. But it was nice to see. I may try to take a picture Tomorrow when I go there. After all a picture is worth 100,000 words.

So after I left Cheryl's office I came back down and across downtown to the Lake Shore Trail. The trail itself was good and was relativity clear of snow. That is better then Grant's Trail in St. Louis County. Near Monroe Marina the water was frozen but as you went further out into the harbor the water was not and a bunch of flocking birds were sitting in the cold water. What can you say, they have bird brains.

On down the Lake Shore trail I made my way up near the Natural History Museum and close to Adler Planetarium. But that was about the time my iPod decided it didn't want to work without power so none of my steps from there to back to the apartment were counted. So what I have counted for my steps Today is 10106. That is when it decided to turn off. I was hoping that the pedometer would keep track even with the screen off but it didn't and there was no way I could have checked either. So when I walk Tomorrow and go the same path I will be able to update my steps for Today.

Not much water flow Today at the Buckingham Fountain.

I am able to weigh myself more accurately now. Coming off this walk I was 270.5 pounds. That is 6.72 percent of the 30 percent I want to lose. Also I went over my 100 mile mark. I must have done that about the time I reached the Lake Shore trail. I have also reached 6 percent of my distance goal of 1750 miles. Even though my records show my percent just under that I know that due to the power failure of my iPod that I passed that goal.

Colder Than Hell.

Weather from Hell.

Yes that's right. Today was colder than Hell, Norway in St. Louis. According to Meteorologisk Institutt of Norway it is -3ºC which converts to 26.6ºF. That is a balmy 16.6ºF warmer than our 10ºF this morning. So you can say with full confidence that it is colder then Hell Today without any fear of strange looks from anyone.

Not many on the trail, but footprints show their evidence.

I did walk the entire path Today but I put on some additional layers before I began. I had on four layers on my torso and four layers on my legs as well and two pair of socks. This is good because it was the coldest day so far to walk. This combine with the snow on Grant's Trail made for a challenging walk. But even with these factors, I was warm after about a mile of walking. After I got off Grant's Trail there were some snow flurries. So the last half mile I had a few flakes blowing in my face.

It is quite good to have this day over with. I would be interested to find out what the forecast is for the next few weeks. I sure wouldn't want to see the temperature drop much more. But the price you pay for warmer weather is storms. So there is that trade off. I am certainly not thrilled about walking in the rain; or any sort of precipitation.

Blowing snow covers covers tracks on Grant's Trail.

Today saw an increase of people. I was quite surprised by this. The trail has been used as is evidenced by the footprints on the trail. I guess some people are keeping to the diet and fitness goals despite the weather. There was a total of five people Today.

I was reading yesterday about the benefits of walking verses jogging. The bottom line seems to be that if you are going the same distance that there is no real benefit to weight loss. Of course there are some factors that can change that such as if you are going up and down hills and if you are wearing ankle weights and things of that sort but the main thing is to have a plan that you can do safely and stick to it.

While getting muscle tone and even bigger muscles sounds like a great plan. In my current state I need to focus on my heart and lung health first and getting the weight down. For that the plan is diet and exercise. But even more important and the most difficult is consistency. The best plan in the world is useless if you do not apply it in a consistent plan. Granted my plan is a bit more then what it typical but I have a lot of fat to lose and it isn't going to go away by wishing it away. Though I wish it would.

My blood pressure has been moving slowly down over the past two weeks which is my main goal.

Getting the blood pressure down helps reduce risk of stoke, heart disease, type II diabetes and other health concerns. Losing the weight just makes me look better. But I can't have one without the other.

According to stltoday.com the forecast for the next few days should be getting warmer. Today could be the coldest day for about a week. January 20 and 21 look to be very cold. But with that being more than a week out that can easily change. But for most of the next week it looks to be in the lower 30º for the highs. I can live with that.

With that in mind I wish everyone the best of luck on their goals and keep on trudging on.

Thomas