Half The Man

 There are three major milestones all close to each other, so we're going to celebrate them all at once, even though they're not all "official" yet!


The first...     at 243 pounds, half of what I weighed at my peak (486 pounds), I become Half The Man I used to be!

The second...  at 240 pounds I tie the lowest weight I've ever gotten to as an adult, and at 239 I weigh what I did in 10th grade.

 The third...  at 236 pounds I will have lost 250 pounds!!

I said:   TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY POUNDS!



 My "official" weight this morning, the one reported on my blog and weight graph, which is a running ten day average, is 240.3 pounds, so I've "officially" hit the first half of those goals.
 My "unofficial" weight, the actual weight of the scale this morning, was 236.0 pounds, so I've "unofficially" hit the other half!   It is fitting that we celebrate them all together!




They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  In some cases, a picture tells the whole story.  I think the two pictures below say more than any ten thousand words I could type, so I don't see the point in cluttering up this post with too many more words!

 The first is of me at my peak weight and me at my current weight:

480-ish Pounds                                        237 Pounds

And the second is of me at my current weight standing in one pants leg of the pants I wore at my largest weight.

   
What can I say that'll top that?   Not much.   So I'll spend the rest of this blog post listing off and thanking many of the people who've had an impact on my journey to better health.  I can't possibly list them all, but know that I am truly grateful for everyone's never ending encouragement.   A few people I'd like to mention by name are:

Chris and Emma are two good friends who are ethical vegans and who have shared with me over the years their reasons for eating as they do and who, although they didn't know it, planted some seeds that made it easier for me when I finally decided to change my diet.

Jerry is a friend from a local group we're both in.  Two years ago he invited us to come watch a video about diet and nutrition.   That video had an impact on me.  I wasn't even going to go watch it, but my friend Billy cared enough about me to call me and remind me about it and encourage me to go watch it.   Billy and his wife, because of their own diet and lifestyle, have also had an influence on my dietary decisions and weight loss.   

 Paula is a dear friend who was thrilled that I wanted to mill my own wheat and bake my own bread.    She kindly invited me into her home and spent an afternoon showing me how to bake bread!  She also gave me a book, titled Flour Power, which really had an impact on steering me away from processed foods of all kinds.

Diane, who was curious and supportive of my weight loss efforts was the one who told me about a book she was reading called The China Study, and suggested I read it and also look up someone else she found on the internet...    by the name of Dr. John McDougall.   Dr. McDougall has had more of an influence on my dietary changes than any other person.   His video The Starch Solution  brought everything I had been learning into focus and laid out a clear path for me to follow.   Once I got a grasp of a whole-foods starch-centered diet my journey kicked into overdrive and it's been a rocket ride ever since!  On his website is a forum where more people have been an inspiration to me than I could possibly list.

 Jeff Novick is a dietitian and nutritional guru.  His simple and clear explanation of Calorie Density has given me the single most powerful tool in my weigh loss arsenal.  

 Diamond Dallas Page, creator of DDP Yoga which I've been doing since June 2012, has been a real help.   If you're not familiar with DDP Yoga, check it out.

 But more than any other person on the planet, I owe more thanks to my wife, Lisa, who has not only loved and supported me every step of this journey, but who loved and supported me just as I was before I even began this journey.   The world is seeing an incredible transformation in me as I lose all this weight...   she saw the potential within me before I even started, and has been by my side encouraging me every step of the way.   I could not, and would not have done it without her love and support.   

Thank you All!

Happy Eating!

-Norm  aka John Smith

I Don't Recognize Myself

Yesterday I shared about hitting 240 pounds, the lightest I've ever been as an adult.  This morning I weighed 239.5 pounds, which I haven't weighed since well before I graduated high school.  I'd guess 10th grade.  I can only guess on that.   As of this morning my Ten Day Average is 243.8 pounds, so I'll "officially" hit the "Half The Man" status very soon.
 But today I want to talk about something else!    I don't recognize myself any more!   I vaguely recognize the face in the mirror as mine, but that's about it.   I look at my hands.  They don't look like mine.  I've always said I couldn't learn to play the guitar because my fingers were too clumsy and fat.  Well, they're not fat anymore!  My hands look normal.  I have no excuse for not learning to play the guitar now. :)
 I don't recognize my arms.  My feet.  My legs.   When I look down while walking I see these legs moving forward and back where before I only saw my belly and the tips of my shoes.
 I don't recognize my shadow.   It's not the one I'm used to.

 It's no wonder I don't recognize myself anymore.  I haven't seen this body in over 30 years.  Excuse me while I go reacquaint myself!

Happy Eating!

 -Norm  aka John Smith    

240 Pounds: Then and Now

 This morning I stepped on the scale and it said I weighed 240 pounds!   The 240 threshold is one of several milestones I'm coming up on real quick.    Others include 243 pounds, which marks the half way point from where I started at 486 pounds, and 236 pounds which will mark 250 pounds lost.   None of these are "official" yet because I don't count one day's weight as my official weight, I count my ten-day-average, which as of today is 244.55 pounds.  I'm creeping up on officially being Half The Man I Used To Be, which will merit it's own blog post.  Look for it soon!

 What is significant about 240 pounds?   It is the lightest I've ever weighed as an adult.   I graduated high school weighing 260 pounds.  I've been on diets before then and after then and the most "successfull" of them, when I was around 20, got me down to 240 pounds.  This is a great opportunity to talk about life then versus life now.  Weight loss then and weight loss now.   Why could I not get under 240 all those years ago?   Why am I confident now that I'll not only get under 240, but eventually under 200?  Good questions!  I'm glad you asked.  :)
 When I was 20 I used everything I knew about weight loss to try to lose weight.  I exercised more and I ate less food and I ate as healthy as I knew how.  Unfortunately, for all my efforts, what I knew about diet and weight loss then is comparable to what most people ever know.  I was trapped in the "Exercise More, Eat Less" mentality.   Sure, I lost weight, but it got harder as time went on and eventually I stalled at 240 pounds.   At that point no amount of exercise would budge the scale and I was already denying myself food at a level I couldn't maintain and eventually...   we all know what happened next...   I gave up.   I saw the utter futility of what I was doing.   Not knowing there was a better way I resigned myself to the fact that I'd always be fat and from then on set out to just try not to be TOO fat.
 What's different this time?  The biggest difference is the food I eat.  I've learned to satisfy my appetite on foods that will fill me up, offer long-term satiety, proper nutrition, and do all that while keeping the calorie levels at a point I can lose weight WITHOUT denying my hunger.   It is no longer a matter of willpower and resolve.  It is no longer a matter of torture and unsustainable deprivation.  It is a matter of simple choices and long-term satisfaction that results in the weight loss I've sought after my entire life.
  If you aren't familiar with this way of eating and wish to learn more about how I've lost over 240 pounds then read through my blog and learn!

 Happy Eating

-Norm   aka John Smith

Weight Loss Update: 11/18/2012

 I have been very lax about updating my blog, and I have no excuse for it other than the old "if you have nothing nice to say..." rationale...    Which doesn't cut it.  After all, the purpose of sharing my journey publicly is to help others going down the same path I am, and that means sharing the good along with the bad.
 So please accept my apology for not sharing what's been going on this past month.  It hasn't been pleasant.  I've fought with the scale almost daily.  I've fought water retention that has caused the scale to climb when everything I've been doing has been right.  How frustrating. How disheartening. 

 The Skinny:

 If you browse my weight graph you'll see for the first time in my journey my weight has gone up. I no longer use my actual weight on weigh-in day, but my ten day average, which has gone up since my last weigh-in period.  My ten day average for today is 250.3 pounds. 

 What's been going on:

Water Retention:  About a month ago I started retaining water.  I didn't know why. It got worse, got better, but didn't go away. It was bad enough that I actually dug out an old pair of compression socks which I hadn't worn in years. Both legs were swollen, but my left for some reason was noticeably more swollen than the right.  Thankfully, this has improved significantly over the past week, especially in the past few days.

Walking:  I gave up walking, for the most part, two months ago after I finished my goal of 1000 miles.  The weather was getting cooler and I am quite often cold and I just didn't want to do it.  To compensate, I turned my focus to DDP-Yoga and I built a stand-up computer desk which would keep me standing instead of sitting while at the computer.  Did giving up the walking cause or contribute to the water retention I've been dealing with in the past month?  Did increasing my time standing contribute?  I don't know the answer to these questions, but I do know this....  I started walking again earlier this week and almost instantly my water retention started going away and the scale started moving downward.  Since this is what I want to have happen I plan on continuing with more walking, even though I REALLY don't want to.  :)

Weight Loss:  Even though I've had a very rough ride with the scale this past month and even though I'm still a bit heavier than my lowest, I'm still making good progress along my journey towards better health.  I've stuck with the DDP-Yoga very consistently these past two months and my strength is improving and I'm putting on muscle mass.  So even though the scale hasn't reflected it, I've lost fat mass and gained muscle mass.  One measure of this is how my clothes fit. A month ago my pants fit very nicely and comfortably, with no need for a belt or suspenders.  Today they're too big and I need suspenders to hold them up.  As for a measure of where my strength is, I now do 60 pushups every day (except Sunday). In comparison, the first time I tried doing a pushup back in April I could not do one single good pushup and could only do a few "cheater" pushups from my knees.  It wasn't until June 21st that I worked up to doing my very first REAL pushup.  Now I do 60 a day, creeping up to my goal of doing 100 a day.

Looking Ahead:  I continue to push on and will work and plan on making it through the Holiday Season sticking true to my goals.  Last year was the first time I made it through Thanksgiving week while losing weight. I plan on this year being the second!  Further down the road I hope to catch up to where my long-term goals say I should be as far as the scale goes, but if the setbacks of the last month mean I'll get there slower, I won't be too broken up about it.

 Happy Eating!!

-Norm  aka John Smith   

Weight Loss Update: 10/25/12

 Sorry for being late with my Weight Loss Update which was due Sunday!!  I had "issues" with the scale!  Namely, my weight loss had been coming along just fine then in the two days before weigh-in my weight shot up five pounds, erasing all my weight loss!
 And then the very next day it was down 4 pounds and after another day right where it should have been. 

 How do you gain 5 pounds in two days and lose it again just as fast?  Water rentention?  Wonky scale?  Who knows!!  Would it even matter?  Not to most people, but some of us are creatures of pride, and I had that whole "20 month consecutive weight loss" streak going!  On the one hand, obviously the scale reading wasn't a reflection of my weight loss trend and shouldn't count to break my streak!!   And on the other hand, why have "weigh-in" day and keep track if it doesn't count?  
 So of course it counts! And so my "Consecutive Weight Loss Streak" ends at 20 months!  But that is a minor point that really doesn't mean anything in the overall scheme of things.  What's important is that my weight loss continues and my journey to good health marches on!

 This is, however, a great opportunity to make changes in how I report my weight. From here on in I'll report my exact weight on weigh-in day, but the number I use to update the Weight Graph and the information at the top of my blog will be the average of my weight over the prior seven days.  This will be a better representation of the trend and not just a one-day snapshot. 

 So....   Sunday's weigh-in had me at 253.5 pounds, the exact same as it was two weeks prior....  but my running 7 day average for Sunday and the week before was 250.5 pounds, and that is the number you'll see on the graph.

 Happy Eating!


 -Norm  aka John Smith 

Norm has no clothes!

 Clothes for a fat man are very expensive, and keeping myself in clothes while losing weight has been an interesting challenge.  Since most of my clothes have been custom made for me, I have been having them taken in on occasion, but for the most part I've just been wearing clothes that are way too big for me.
 The last few months I've been in a clothing transition where I'm nearing a size where clothes are readily available at the store, off the shelf, but still large enough that those clothes aren't cheap and more importantly, hard to find in second had thrift stores.

Norm at 249 pounds, Hobo at 46 pounds.

 

 As recently as last week I've been in dire need of pants.  I had enough shirts to last me a while, but the only pair of pants I had were way too big for me.  Besides that I had one pair of sweatpants and 4 pairs of shorts.
 So when my wife saw a yard sale ad on craigslist that mentioned larger sized mens clothes, we hopped in the car and headed off!   I found four pairs of pants there, sized 46, and one pair of jeans, sized 44.  I bought them all!  I honestly didn't think any of these pants would fit me right now.  I was buying them so I'd have pants to wear when I lost a bit more weight. I was quite surprised when I got home and tried them on and all of the sized 46 pants fit! 

 Then my mother lets me know she found a couple pairs of jeans at the thrift store.  One sized 44, one sized 46.   The larger pair fits just fine!  So I now have enough pants in my current size to keep me happy, and I have two pairs of jeans in the next sized down waiting for me.  But the biggest surprise came as I walked through a thrift store yesterday looking at clothes. In the men's section they had a large selection of jeans for men all the way up through sized 44!!  What this means is that from here on in I can walk into a thrift store and find clothes THAT FIT ME!!  I am honest when I tell you that nothing else I've experienced along this weight loss journey of mine has brought me more joy!

 This is an appropriate time and place to give a shout out to my brother, who has been my tailor for quite a few years.  He has kept me in pants for a long time! Very sturdy, very comfortable, and most important, very BIG pants.  Most clothing for fat people is exactly the same as clothing for smaller people, only cut bigger, and that doesn't work so well for very fat people because there are more factors involved than just cutting the clothing bigger. The clothes my brother has made for me over the years have been as comfortable, or more comfortable than any clothes anyone wears.

 Thanks Al!

Happy Eating!

 -Norm  aka John Smith 

  

Weight Loss Update: 10/07/12

Weight Loss Update:

Today's weigh-in showed my current weight to be 253.5 pounds, 5.0 pounds lighter than two weeks ago, bringing my total weight loss to 232.5 pounds.  This makes 20 continuous months of weight loss averaging 11.6 pounds per month, and keeps me fairly close to my long-term goal of losing 1% of my body weight each week.



Compulsive Over Eating Update:

 Today marks 7 weeks since I've addressed my compulsive overeating by intentionally eating less food. My new way of eating is not without ongoing issues.  However, it has become such an ingrained part of my life that it's no longer really a problem.    Yes, I'll continue to pay vigilance so old habits don't creep back in, but I don't see the need to have continuing updates on the matter.  From here on it it should be assumed that so long as my weight loss is ongoing, I'm not having issues with volume eating.

Weight Graph
 
I moved the Weight Graph Chart to it's own page.  You can view it by clicking the link towards the top of the page.





That is all!

Happy Eating!

-Norm  aka John Smith