Diet Story - A Journey

Wii Fit?

30 November 2009 By tpholmes 0 In My Diet Journey

A few years ago we won a big screen TV. Being as I spend most of my time on the Internet, I don’t use it too much. When I do sit down in front of it, nothing useful is on (time to buy a PVR, perhaps).

A very good friend of mine recently acquired Wii Fit, and has lost about 40 pounds using it.

Anybody else have success with this program? Any chance a computer geek like me will get into it?

Wii Fit

7 weeks on, down 11.6 pounds

26 November 2009 By tpholmes 0 In My Diet Journey

So, I rejoined WeightWatchers 7 weeks ago, and have lost 11.6 pounds so far. This is way below my last experience (when I lost about that in the first week), but I was starting from a much higher weight that time.

I have to lose another 60 pounds before I reach my goal – sadly, I was about 12 pounds away before. But that’s water under the bridge now.

A few things I’m doing smarter this week:

Recording absolutely everything I eat – a simple, basic premise of WeightWatchers. If you can do this accurately and consistently, it’s hard not to lose weight on the program.

Cutting the cream in my coffee – last time around, I quit sugar. I’m substantially cutting the amount of cream I put in, and hoping I will eventually like it black. In some cases, I’m substituting milk.

Things that are a big deal:

You might think to yourself – what the hell does it matter how much cream you put in your coffee? Well, actually, if you drink as much coffee as I do, it’s a big deal.

It’s similar to a friend from WeightWatchers who really, really, really likes chocolate and simply cannot live without it. So, don’t live without it – eat smarter, eat dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. The chemical in chocolate that makes people chocoholics is in higher concentrations in dark chocolate, and chocolate isn’t all that bad for you – it’s the sugar and milk products they add that make it unhealthy (especially in large quantities).

So I’m trying to eat smarter, eat less and get healthy.

My goal this week is to do some exercise – on purpose.

Technorati

25 November 2009 By tpholmes 0 In My Diet Journey

We’re on technorati, hooray!

VWFN85Y9KABH

Off the wagon, and back on.

25 November 2009 By tpholmes 0 In My Diet Journey

Things got a bit busy, and I fell off the wagon.

The story we all hear is people who lose a bunch of weight quickly, then put it all back on and then some just as quickly as they lost it.

While my recent de-wagoning is unfortunate, it’s notable that I did not even come close to my old weight (over 350 pounds), and I actually held my weight down for well over a year.

I am happy to announce that I am “back on” the wagon.

I started going to WeightWatchers again, and have lost about 10 pounds already. I figured I’d resurrect this blog and carry on where I left off.

For those who are remotely interested in other parts of my life, I also blog about social media, my business, stuff I find funny, Canadian politics, and, ironically I blog about blogging.

18 Months Later

23 January 2009 By tpholmes 0 In My Diet Journey

It’s been 18 months since I lost 100 lbs. Even though I’ve gone up a bit, I’m still way below my old 350-odd pound life.

Remember, make changes that are “reasonable” things you can continue to do “for the rest of your life.” If you do something radical and unsustainable, it might have a short-term effect on your health (not necessarily positive), but temporary things are not going to help you over the rest of your life.

Here’s a few things that I learned during my original weight loss that I’ve kept doing consistently since then to stay healthy.

Drink alot of water; forget about juice and pop.
Exercise as regularly as possible, even if it’s just doing stuff at home. For example, we bought an elliptical for our living room (for our Christmas present), and ‘ellipticalate’ while watching TV.
Take a multi-vitamin every day (your hunger might be your body craving vitamins or minerals).
Cut up fresh carrots and celery and keep them in water in your fridge (near the front), so you have a healthy snack staring you in the face when you open the fridge.

Since so many people have read my blog and asked me to continue, I’m going to transform it into a complete health and fitness website over the next few months. Don’t worry, I’ll leave my story online for all to enjoy!

Stay tuned!

The New Challenge

23 January 2008 By tpholmes 0 In My Diet Journey

Where have I been?

Over the last several months I have been training and building muscle for my latest challenge – joining the Army Reserves … and passing the basic training regime.

Exciting? Yes. Challenging? Sure. But mostly improbable: a guy who spent most of his adult life as an obesity case, joining the army.

My weight is still in the same range, but I am still up from my low. I haven’t been focusing on that, since I have switched focus to muscle growth. Instead, now, I am counting numbers like how much I can bench press, how long I can jog for (and how fast), and how many push-ups I can do. By all these accounts, I am far better off than late summer.

At 34, I am stronger than I have ever been in my whole life, and fitter, certainly than any other time in my adult life.

I don’t really want to be a big, scary muscleman, though. However, I am doing whatever I can to be fit, and if that means having bigger muscles, then I guess I can’t fight genetics.

So here are some new numbers:

Bench Press: 3 sets of 12 @ 105 lbs (started at 35 lbs)
Pec Dec: 3 sets of 10 @ 235 lbs (started at 115 lbs)
Bicep Curls: 3 sets of 10 @ 40 lbs (started at 15 lbs)
Chinups: 0
Pullups: 0
Pushups: 2 sets of 10, then a few more…

I’ll post my progress again.

Thoughts on Body Composition, Overall Health and Weight Loss (243.4 lbs)

16 August 2007 By tpholmes 0 In My Diet Journey

Yes, I am up 1 pound below my 10-year low, meaning I’ve slipped below the 100 pound mark. Over the course of a month, this has been consistent.

Why?

I have two answers: (1) my body composition is changing, and (2) I have not been strictly watching my food intake.

I put number 2 last because it is the real culprit. How have I gotten this far? Diet and exercise. Pretty simple. I have been very diligent lately on the latter of these two necessary parts, but not the former.

So, here’s a thought: don’t exercise like mad then go eat a Big Mac.

But there is some truth to item 1. I have been focusing my workout alot more on strength training lately, and unquestionably have built more muscle. We have all heard that muscle weighs more than fat, and so, overall I am healthier than a month ago, but the scale alone doesn’t tell this story.

Regardless, if I had eaten better (consistently), I would no doubt be reporting another 5 pound loss on top of better overall health, and muscle gain. But, I did not, and so this is where I am today.

How do I feel?

Actually, I feel great. Running is easier and easier. I can bench press 130 pounds. I can do chinups (OK, well, one chinup – but that’s the first time I can ever remember doing one).

So, my goal for the next few weeks: commit to the diet side of the equation more consistently and drop some pounds, continue to strength train, but focus on cardio exercises and endurance.

I’ll keep you posted if anything else exciting happens. Hopefully I’ll have good news next week.

For those of you who e-mail because you are silently following along, and working on your own health: keep up the good fight!

The Top 10 Things That Suck About Losing 100 Pounds

19 July 2007 By tpholmes 0 In My Diet Journey

The Top 10 Things That Suck About Losing 100 Pounds
by Paul Holmes

10. I can’t make self-deprecating fat jokes anymore.
Before it was funny. If I do it now, people just think I’m being mean to fat people. There goes half my comedy routine!

9. Everybody still gives you advice on losing weight.
OK, let’s be clear, I appreciate the encouragement. But, honestly, I think I know what I’m doing now. I’ve lost 100 pounds for crying out loud! It’s like telling a Boeing scientist how to build a paper airplane. I really, really appreciate the support, but you can now safely leave the details to the expert!

8. Your clothing bill went through the roof!
My waist went from size 54 to 38. That’s alot of pants, and alot of belt notches. I tried to economize, but if you are size 44, size 54 pants just don’t work. And, besides socks, there are few things you can wear the same. Even your shoe size will probably change (mine did).

7. Your stomach is gone, and it was so soft!
It was nice to sleep on a soft stomach every night. Now I sleep with a soft pillow where my stomach used to be, or I steal one of my son’s soft stuffed animals. With the exception of needing a substitute-belly, however, sleeping is much better than it was 100 pounds ago.

6. People you know don’t recognize you.
Even people you knew for a long, long time. Interestingly, it’s just adults. All the kids you knew before don’t realize much has happened at all. What does this say about societal perceptions and stereotyping, Sigfried. (Although one friend’s daughter, bless her heart, thought I looked a little taller than before.)

5. Being fat is no longer an excuse for being lazy.
This might sound odd, but when you are fat, you can tell people you are incapable of doing things like helping people move, or build an addition on their house, or whatever. Chance are that you probably aren’t that useful anyway, or that they won’t ask. But either way, you can be lazy and nobody questions it. Now that you are slim and trim: get to work, sucker! (For pre-existing thinnies, it’s the equivalent of buying a truck when you live in the city.)

4. People introduce you as their friend that just lost 100 pounds.
You’re like a circus freak (I suspect this is temporary). The poor “new” people you meet have to try to imagine you as this hideous monster that was 100 pounds heavier than now. I alleviate this one by telling people I do other tricks, too, like balancing a hockey stick on my nose.

3. You are more hairy.
You might be asking yourself — what the hell is this guy talking about. But it’s true, and I will explain (ladies, ignore this item). Is it the good, healthy food you are eating that is promoting hair growth? 8 cups of water a day acting like it does with your houseplants? No. As your skin contracts around less fat and a smaller body, the hair follicles move closer together. Thus the new, smaller you, now appears to be “the new, hairier you,” as well.

2. Swimming is harder.
Fat floats; muscle sinks. I never used to sink. Now that’s all I do. Fortunately I can hold my breath longer now, while I drag my heavy frame along the bottom of the pool to the shallow end.

1. It’s colder.
Alot colder. And all the time! OK, now that it’s summer time, and when it’s a really hot day, I feel just about right. Any other times, I feel like I’m in the middle of the arctic. I went camping on June 30th and wore 3 shirts, long johns, pants, 2 pairs of socks, two jackets, and a sleeping bag, and still froze my ass off (which is not a recommended weight loss technique).

The Bonus Item:
The “Fat Pill” is just around the corner.
Now that I’ve struggled along for 9 months trying desperately to lose a pound or two a week, some evil genius is going to finally invent the “fat melting pill”. It’ll be as simple as one pill a day, eat all you want, no need to exercise, no side effects. Bastard! Whoever you are, I hate you already!

Finally, lost 100 lbs! (242.4)

19 July 2007 By tpholmes 0 In My Diet Journey

342.6 minus 242.4 equals 100.2.

That’s 100 pounds in about 10 months.

Let’s review some other things that weigh 100 pounds:

100 standard packages of lard
25 average size chickens
An above average size newborn hippopotamus
A small adult
My 2-year old son and his two clones

Before and After Photos (244.8 lbs)

08 July 2007 By tpholmes 0 In My Diet Journey

I’ve had a number of people e-mail to ask me to post before and after photos. Keep in mind, this is not the official “after”. I still have 24.8 pounds to get to my goal.

Before – April, 2006 (on vacation in California – I’m the one on the right)

April, 2006 - Vacation in California