Ripped Flabs, part One.: Finding Motivation and a New Way of Eating

                                     My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four.

                                     Unless there were three other people.

                                                                                       Orson Wells

Truth be told, the first post was written weeks ago but only posted on the 19th because I wanted to be sure I was actually going to get past day 3 of my weight loss plan. On day 5 my wife, Jessica, and I were at O'Charlie's ordering a salad for lunch. When I declined the rolls the waitress asked, "New Year's resolution?" to which I replied, "Yes. From 2007."

As with most of the country, witnessed by the yearly spike in gym memberships each January, I begin every new year wit the best of intentions. Heck, I begin every Monday morning with them too. I can sit with a loaf of peasant bread, freshly warmed in the oven and a stick of butter and be a happy "little" boy. Food had become my feel-good activity again and if I didn't find another I was going nowhere with the whole idea. A fundamental change in doing things was in order.

At the risk of sounding cliche, motivation and attitude are the keys. Not the usual kind where you say to yourself, “I can do it as long as I don’t think about pizza.” But rather the one that has helped me in the past, “I am thinking about pizza and I don’t want it.” I know this seems quite silly but for anyone who has ever tried giving up anything they really enjoy it is a fundamental requirement. You have to want it. You have to demand it of yourself and make it your whole attitude.

I am certainly not lacking in external motivational examples. As noted in an earlier post, I have watched friends and family make healthy life changes so I had their excellent examples to draw from. But I also had the examples of Mom and Dad to add fuel to the fire. It has been just over a year since mom was diagnosed with a "lemon-sized" tumor in he descending colon. At 76 she breezed through the surgery and, despite having the more invasive, full abdominal incision type, and was discharged on the time table of a person who had it done laproscopically. If that doesn't endorse a healthy diet and staying active I don't know what does. Dad is the same. He goes to the gym, chops wood and as far as I can tell they are more active now than when I lived with them 20 years ago. Dad had his scary medical issue back in 1990 when he had a blood clot that destroyed three feet  small intestine and landed him in the hospital for 2 months. At the time he was at about the same weight I was when I began this adventure.

And then there's this...

!!WARNING!!

 

 

 

Image may be disturbing to others

 

(It is to me)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another "truth be told"

 

This picture was taken on January 19 after two weeks and at a weight of 224

 

I love food. I used to love food and jogging/hiking. Then I loved food, jogging/hiking and beer. Then food and beer but missed jogging/hiking. Finally, I just loved food. There it is, my life in a nutshell (a nutshell sitting in the middle of a large pizza).

Jessica has lost 20 pounds over the last 4 months. I have been very impressed with her focus and determination and, along with the example set by others, I found the will to finally get into and stick with a program. I have tried many methods of weight loss over the years: Weight Watchers, Atkins (twice), Slim Fast, etc. With Weight Watchers the portion control was my down-fall. On Atkins and Slim Fast I wasn't getting enough carbs to function. After hearing a lot about the no wheat and paleo
diet plans I became interested. There was historical and biological context that made sense to me. Plus, an amazing amount of my food intake consists of bread or other wheat based foods and starchy veggies like potatoes (pizza, pasta, sandwiches of all kinds, biscuits, gravy, burgers, fries, etc.).

Believe me, it isn't easy, but I stopped all of these. I have started eating more fresh fruits and veggies. A salad has become my daily lunch (portion control be damned), and a Greek yogurt with a banana became my breakfast. Most important of all though was the attitude and motivation.  I knew this was working when I went to bakery at the hospital to get coffee and all those tasty tidbits behind the glass had no appeal at all, I simply didn't see them as food. I also ditched carbonated drinks like diet Coke. Coffee, on the other hand...

I was immediately surprised at how good I felt. I was no longer getting those post meal sugar spikes and drops. I maintained a steady energy level most of the day, aside from the 5 PM slump at work. But hey, after being on your feet and walking for the better part of 10 hours, one gets tired no matter what you eat. Here again, coffee comes to the rescue and tides me over for the last 2 hours. When home, I have found other activities than eating to occupy my time and boredom (I'm doing one now) but that will be the topic of another post.

Right! So, proper attitude in place, dietary changes made, time for the hard part. Movement!