It's a wrap! (At least the 1st 6 weeks)

It's a wrap. Put a fork in me. Fin-nee. Finished. Done. Cooked. The first six weeks of my minor human experiment is over. For the past six weeks I have tried to eat as clean as possible. By clean I mean close to the source. It was mostly raw foods and most of the cooked foods I ate were veggies of some sort. I was originally motivated to seek a different lifestyle because I had "ballooned" up to 235. I was feeling very uncomfortable and swore I would not buy another set of clothes that were just one size bigger.

I came across a book called Eat To Live that discussed mainly a plant based diet being one that could get you to your body's "normal" weight. I then read a book called The China Study. The China Study was written by a scientist who had grown up on a farm eating the traditional SAD (standard American diet). He went on in later life to complete a 20 year study of health and dietary patterns among different villages in China. The conclusion he came to was that those that ate the traditional western diet (protein from meat) contracted and were dying from the typical western diseases (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.) Yet those that ate a plant based diet were not dying of these diseases and were living longer and healthier lives.

So with my desire to lose weight and the facts presented in The China Study I decided to embark on a plant based eating regime. On the Tuesday morning I began my program I weighed in at 228lbs. This past Tuesday when I weighed in after 6 weeks on the program I was down to 212lbs. In the span of a short six weeks I was able to easily remove 16lbs of unwanted mass. That's a very healthy loss of over 2 1/2 lbs a week.

I am taking this week "off". That does not mean I am going out and gorging on steak and burgers and french fries and pizza and (crap I'm getting hungry). What this means is no measurements this week. I am still eating clean. Starting next week I will be introducing an exercise program in combination with my eating program. I will do this for six weeks and again track my results here on this blog.

I've thought about a 3rd 6 week segment where I would go back to my normal eating and just do exercise. The reason I am thinking about doing this is I have this inkling in the back of my head (I know, not a big thought as I am generally incapable of those) that our societies obesity problem stems almost exclusively from a horrible diet. I've had many folks tell me you can eat whatever you want as long as you exercise. Not sure this is correct. Well, we'll see where this next six weeks leads me.

One thing that has bothered me over these past six weeks is a perceived lack of protein. I have been eating a lot of beans, nuts, etc but I just don't feel like there is enough protein in my diet. Its hard to eat enough plant material to get enough calories and protein. I will say other than the weight loss there have not been a lot of other noticeable changes. I don't "feel" any different. I still feel tired a lot, but that could be contributed to the fact that I rise before 5:00am every morning. Traffic sucks in my area so I have to get on the road so I don't have a 3 hour commute. I am getting between 7-8 hours of sleep so its not a lack of sleep I just think my body has never adjusted to getting up so early. I guess its good I was not born a farmer.

6 weeks down. Another 6 to go. Stay tuned.

Tale of the Tape
weight - 212.4 (down 3 lbs)
fat% - 29.7
BMI remained steady at 27 (goal is under 24)

Just for Today I will relax and revel in the progress I have made and dream about the progress yet to come.

Short but sweet

Work. Ugh! These 14-15 hour days are going to be my demise. Because work has had me so wrapped up I have been unable to update my blog and let everyone know where I am with the weight loss. So here goes:

The past week was a good one. Back on the proverbial wagon (at least on the food part). When I weighed in on Tuesday morning I had lost back all the weight I had added the week before. I am now through 5 full weeks. One more to go before I switch gears and add exercise to the new eating.

Once again, ugh. Wondering when I am going to have time to get in some exercise. I already rise at 4:30 am so I don't have to sit in two hours of traffic. I guess I am going to have to dedicate my lunch hour to working out. I just can't work out at night. I get too wound up and can't sleep.

Speaking of sleep, can I tell you how much I love Roserem? I forgot what its like to mostly sleep through the night. Haven't met Abe or the talking ground hog yet but boy am I trying. Sleep problems will have to wait for another blog entry.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming..
As of Tuesday 10/13
Tale of the Tape
weight - 215.4 (down 2.6 lbs)
fat% - 30.1
BMI remained steady at 27 (goal is under 24)

Just for today I will tell those closest to me how much I love them. For tomorrow while my feelings won't have changed, they may not be here to tell.

Wrong Direction

The title says Wrong Direction, not wrong directionS. Wrong directions would be what my wife follows (but she's doing a lot better with the help of modern technology; gotta love the GPS). Wrong direction is the way I headed this past week. Its amazing how one weekend (ok 3 days) can just throw the train completely off track. Not only did I fall off the wagon but the wagon backed up and ran me over. And then because it wasn't sure what happened it pulled forward to run me over one more time. Bottom line is I was bad on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and it contributed to my first week of weight GAIN since being on my new eating regime. In fact I erased a whole week of work in just 3 short days (see tale of the tape below).

There were two contributing factors to my less than stellar weekend. I was out of town volunteering as a corner worker for 3 wonderful days of Porsche races. The cars were fast. The racing was close. The weather was beautiful and I was getting fatter. First issue was that I did not have many food choices as we were fed 3 meals a day by the track. Coffee and donuts. 2 hot dogs, chips and a soda. Pizza and.... see next paragraph. So you can see my food choices were not the most healthy. BUT, I could have planned better and taken much of my own food.

Next Paragraph
The true downfall this weekend was caused by (insert drum roll)................ FREE beer. As one who truly cherishes(ed) the consumption of fermented yeast and hops, you put the word FREE in front of it and it becomes like a mothers arms to a baby... a donut to a cop... a text message to a teenager... a cheap hotel to a hooker...I just can't live without it. Its a must have. Free Beer! Are you kidding me?! Have sweeter words ever been spoken? You get the point. I drank too many beers (FREE beers) this weekend and it had a devastating effect on my weight loss. Ok, maybe devastating is a little harsh but it certainly sent me in the wrong direction.

Now I know how/why I was bad and I am hopefully back on the right course. Had my healthy servings of weeds these past two days and there is no beer in my refrigerator so I should be good (for now). Check back next week for the ongoing saga and see how I screw up this week.

Tale of the Tape
weight - 218 (UP 3 lbs)
fat% - 31
BMI remained steady at 27 (goal is under 24)

Just for Today I will let go of any expectations I have on the people to whom I owe amends.

3 for 13

3 for 13. I sound like one of those late night hucksters "Order now and get 3 for 13. And if you call in the next ten minutes we'll throw in a years supply of pickled eggs". What the hell am I going to do with a years supply of pickled eggs? Besides, if I wanted a years supply of pickled eggs I would just run down to Costco. BTW, I do like me some pickled eggs. Reminds me of my grandfather. He used to make them fresh. Yummy!

Now we return you to your regularly scheduled program.

3 for 13. I have been on my new eating regime (not = diet) for 3 full weeks. Sorry that I missed posting last week about my week 3 experiences but life just took over. After 3 full weeks I am down 13 pounds. That's an average of just over 4 pounds per week. If I keep up this pace after my first 6 week experiment I should be down 26 pounds or just over 200 lbs total. I would be very happy with that. But I wonder if I am starting to plateau a bit in the weigh loss area. I lost 5 lbs in each of the first 2 weeks but this past week I only lost 2.6 lbs. Its natural that weight will come off quickly in the beginning, there will be a plateau and then start coming off again. Well, only time will tell. I just need to keep eating clean and let "nature" take it course.

I was a little bad over the weekend too which probably helped contribute to not as much weight loss. Saturday night was poker night and just like one of Pavlov's Dogs I equate beer with poker. So I had beer while I played poker. The unfortunate thing is that I had a few more beers than I had intended. Not to the point of being inebriated (can't play good poker when mentally incapacitated) but enough to hit my diet somewhat. And this weekend is going to be real challenging as I am out of town working a car race for 3 days and I will have to rely on mainly the food they serve us. I will pack as much fresh fruit as I can which should help.

After 3 weeks I can say that eating an almost completely raw foods vegan diet has been very easy, much easier than I expected. I helps that I like salad and I add a lot of different things to my salads so they are not boring. Its funny though that I never realized how much meat really plays into the American diet. There have been several times that we have been out, away from the house, so I have had to find food at restaurants. Let me tell you, there is little to no vegetarian meals on most restaurant menus. Let's see, I can have chicken, burger, shrimp, fish, turkey, burger, chicken, fish, shrimp, or a house salad.

Speaking of having to eat out, yesterday I left my lunch sitting on the counter top at home so I had to buy lunch. I work in downtown Washington, DC and we are lucky to have a salad place called Chop'T. I went there and got their Vegetarian Powerhouse. $8.57! $8.57 for some lettuce, sliced apples and crasians. My god, the mark up they are making on that must be incredible. Now I see why Americans eat fast food. Its cheap. I can go to McDonalds and get a burger, fries and a soda for $4.00. When we are encouraged economically to eat like this its now wonder we have obesity problems in the US.

Tale of the Tape
Gonna have to post two weeks worth of measurements but you already know how I've done.

End of Week 2
weight - 218 (down 5.2lbs from the previous week)
fat% - 31.6 (down to 68.8lbs of fat)
BMI dropped to 27 (goal is under 24)

End of Week 3
weight - 215.4 (down 2.6lbs from the previous week)
fat% - 29.9 (down to 64.4lbs of fat)
BMI remained at 27 (goal is under 24)

Just For Today I will look at life with fresh eyes and discover the wonder of it; I will know that as I give to the world so the world will give to me.

Week One in the Books

One week down...a life time to go. Just finished my first week of the new healthier me. Its been a good week and a successful one. It was also a very busy week which was a good challenge for my new program but I was able to stay on course (Yeah Me!).

Diet
I have stuck almost exclusively to the raw foods way of eating. The one exception was the soft pretzel I had at the NASCAR race Saturday night. I was hungry and they did not sell anything at the concession stand that would fit in my diet. I figured the pretzel was better than the mound of french fries. BTW, $4 for a soft pretzel? That's highway robbery.

Actually the eating part has been a lot easier than I expected. I am eating a ton of salad. I am literally pooping weeds (is it a sign of getting old when you start discussing your bowel movements?). Haven't found any four leaf clovers yet though.

Salads, nuts and fresh fruit, its been very easy to stick with the eating plan. Its also a lot less expensive way to eat. Take meat and alcohol out of your diet and watch your grocery (and dining) bill plummet. And I actually like the food. Today's lunch salad consists of romaine lettuce, collard greens, mushrooms, green pepper, onion, celery and chik peas (garbanzo beans). Top it off with a little lemon juice. Doesn't that sound yummy? I am actually looking forward to lunch.

What's strange is that I have not had any cravings for a particular food (thought I would be jonesing for pizza) but I have really craved salt. And that is weird for me. I never thought of myself as a salt person (do not use extra salt on any foods, haven't since i was in high school). And I never eat that much chips or other salty foods. I wonder if I was getting a lot of sodium with my beer?

Exercise
As I mentioned in a previous post my first 6 weeks are going to be devoid of exercise. I want to run a small experiment and see how my body adjusts to just a change in eating habits. During the second 6 weeks I will incorporate a Body-For-Life like exercise program. I think it will be interesting to see what my body does each of those periods. I know a lot of the early weight loss is the easiest but we'll see.

Beer and Smokes
NONE. YES! I knew if I cut out the beer the smokes would follow as I only smoked when I drank. I am happy to say that this week I made it through bowling night, a NASCAR race and pool night and never once touched a beer. That was a tough week for me. All three of those activities usually went hand-in-hand with beer so I had the whole Pavlov's dogs thing going on. But believe it or not I never really had the hard urge. Very glad about this.

Tale of the Tape
Its been a good week but I realize most of this was probably water weight and that I will not see this type of typical weight loss from week to week.
weight - 223.2 (down exactly 5lbs)
fat% - 31.8 (down to 70.9 lbs of fat)
BMI dropped to 28 (goal is under 24)

Just for today I will live one day only, forgetting yesterday and tomorrow, and not trying to solve the whole problem of life at once.

Celebrate small successes

When there is a mountain to climb you start by putting one foot in front of the other. Rarely do you leap to the peak. So today I celebrate the small success I had yesterday. Yes, it was only the first day of the journey to a healthier me but..I ate well and was not tempted by the evil god of BEER. And to top it all off, down 3 lbs. I know from doing similar weight reduction plans in the past many of the lbs lost in the first few weeks are purely water weight but..celebrate small successes.

Today is a new day and I will eat well, stay away from BEER and generally feel good about what I am accomplishing.

BTW, as an experiment, I have decided not to start an exercise program for the first 6 weeks of my journey. I want to see how just a change in diet (remember I am on mostly a raw, whole foods eating plan) affects my body. Until tomorrow..celebrate small successes.

"Just For Today I will have a plan. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have one. It will save me from worry, hurry and indecision."

Off and Running

"Today is the first day of the rest of my life." Not sure who originally said that but for today it seems true for me. This might be some sort of foreshadowing or some kind of Freudian thing but when I first typed in the title for this post it read "Off and Ruining". Huh. Wonder what that means?

Today is the first day that I try and make some serious lifestyle changes in order to get more healthy.

Diet
I am going to TRY to switch to a mostly raw foods, plant based diet. And I use the term diet as a way to eat, not a starve myself way of consuming food in order to lose weight. Yes, I do need to shed some pounds but that is just one of many overall goals. BTW, my wife and friends have set the over-under at 30 days for me to stick with this diet plan. Spent an hour or so yesterday in a completely crowded Wegman's buying tons of raw veggies and fruits. This will certainly be a less expensive way of eating as compared to my daily $10 lunches and $20 dinners. Yes, I tend to eat out a lot, somedays even eating out all three meals.

Breakfast was oatmeal, blueberries and a handful of walnuts. Lunch will be salad (lettuce, collard greens, onion and broccoli) and some fresh fruit. Not sure what dinner will hold yet as we have a 6:30 meeting that may play into dinner plans.

Exercise
No exercise planned for today as I used this weekend to play instead of planning. I hate exercising at night but I already get up a 5:00am in order to commute to work (almost 2 hours today with school starting and rain).

Other Changes
No more beer. No more smokes

Other Thoughts
Since I decided a few weeks back to do this I have been thinking about what I am going to miss most. I know for sure beer will be missed but I think I will miss pizza the most. Glad we had a pizza party yesterday.

Not sure I will post my measurements every day but will do it at least once a week. So here we go:

Today's tale of the tape
weight - 228.2
fat % - 33.6
belly circumference - 43.5 inches

Second Chances

Several events of the past week or so got me thinking about second changes.

First there was the passing of Ted Kennedy. Let's take a quick review of his early life. In 1951 he was caught cheating and subsequently expelled from Harvard (reapplied and re-entered in 1953). In 1969 he was involved in an auto accident that took the life of a young 28 year old girl, Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy did not report the incident to the police until the following day, AFTER the Mary Jo's body had been discovered. He freely admits to "destructive drinking" and was known to exhibit questionable behavior in public while apparently intoxicated. It is also rumored that he had several affairs while married to his first wife. YIKES! That's quite a list of accomplishments but with all the press over the last week about his contribution to the legislative landscape of this country it is very apparent that he was given a large dose of SECOND CHANCE (full disclosure: this blogger disagreed with many of his legislative positions).

Next was the discovery of kidnapping and rape victim Jaycee Lee Dugard after 18 years of captivity. Her "alleged" abductor was Phillip Garrido who had previously been convicted, sentenced and incarcerated for a previous kidnapping and rape. He was sentenced to 50 years to life but was released after only serving 11 years. This twisted SOB was given a SECOND CHANCE where in hindsight he should have had his nutz removed and shoved down his throat. Sorry but I can not stand anyone that would harm a defenseless child. Be sure that the person caught doing anything to my children will not be walking this earth.

And finally there was William Taylor who was "forced" to stand on a busy intersection here in Northern Virginia wearing a sign reading "I Cheated. This is my punishment" for alleged marital infidelity. If all I had to do was stand on a street corner with a sign I might consider... (not really hon). I know for sure my testicles would be removed with the dullest knife the wife could find, they would be placed in a jar and prominently displayed in my house where all our friends and my wife's future boyfriends could see. I am very sure that there would be no SECOND CHANCE for me. (BTW, the guy with the sign turned out to be a local radio station stunt).

So second chances. Some get them and get to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Some get them and completely f*#k it up. And then some aren't granted the second chance. So think before you act as you may not get the second chance, unless your name is Kennedy and you were born with a silver shovel in your mouth then you are practically guaranteed a second chance. It was a birth rite.

On a similar note, if you want to read a good book pick up No Second Chance by my fellow Lord Jeff, Harlan Coben. And no its not a story of me cheating on my wife.

Is it really collared shirts that make the man

So the "ball and chain" (j.k. - Love Ya Honey!) and I are driving down the road the other day and we come upon this ragtop Jeep with a Harley sticker and a NASCAR sticker on its rear. The B&C says "you all could be twins". As we get up next to this guy I look over and the first thing to go through my mind is "what an complete redneck". (Was that bad of me? Was I stereotyping?). So I say to the 'ole B&C "well at least I don't look like that, he's a real redneck." To which she responds "you look just like that." She proceeds to point out that he has a NASCAR baseball hat on, sunglasses appropriately balanced on the brim. Sleeveless shirt with requsit tattoo showing, etc.

DEVASTATING (not that there is anything wrong with being a redneck I just never really thought I gave off the redneck vibe). We were on our way to breakfast so we continued this redneck discussion through our meal. Every person that walked by we evaluated on the redneck scale and what I noticed is that all the guys that she thought were NOT rednecks had collared polos, khaki cargo shorts and some fancy brand of flip flop (not the cheap rubber kind you get at Wal*Mart). My off hours attire tends toward tee shirts, usually with some logo on them. As soon as I dropped her off back at the ranch I made a beeline for the outlets to get as many polo shirts as I could. I didn't buy any shorts as I am hoping the waistline reduces dramaticlly here soon and besides, I already own 3 pairs of cargo shorts (1 grey, 2 khaki). Sorry, but NO WAY am I going to wear flip flops. Now I have enough polos that I am retiring most of my collection of Harley t-shirts.

But all of this got me thinking, what really is a redneck? What makes one a redneck or not? So here goes, me in a nutshell and you can decide for yourself, Redneck or No Redneck.

I love country music. If you told me I was going to a deserted island and I had to take just one album (I know I am dating myself there) I would probably take one from Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney or Toby Keith. But I also like late 60's music (The Doors, Motown). I like classic rock (Aerosmith). I like blues (Keb Mo'). I'd say I have quite a diverse taste in music (ask the poker gang) but country is certainly the first choice.

I ride a Harley. Second to my wife and kids I love my Harley more than just about anything in this world. There is nothing better than taking off for the mountains on a cool Sept afternoon and getting 4-5 hours in the saddle. Might be better than sex (can't do that for 4-5 hours).

I bowl. I watch NASCAR (religiously). I play on a billiards team.

I have a tattoo. But its not on my ass, its hidden when I am at work and its a tribute to my deceased uncle who committed suicide and I happened to be the one that found him (BTW, he died 3 years ago Sunday, I miss my Uncle Bill).

I am a gun nut...uuummm... supporter of our 2nd amendment rights. (I really hate it when the liberal media describes law abiding gun owners as "nuts".)

I've never lived in a home that was or could be mobile. I never had nor thought about sexual relations with any family member or animal. I know the nut cracker is not something you do off the high dive (its those red statues my wife puts out at Xmas right?). I've never skinned an animal (or even hunted one for that matter). I've never been to a Ho' Down (though I have been to a rodeo). I know Taco Bell is not the Mexican phone company. There is no rebel flag anywhere in my home. My school fight song was not "Dueling Banjos" (close, I think it was Freebird). All of my cars are in working order and have current registration. I've never said "Hey fellas watch this" and ended up in the hospital.

So what makes a redneck? And do I qualify? But most importantly should I care? I am happy, healthy, have a wonderful family (sorry about that ball and chain comment again Hun) and really don't think I would change one thing about my life.

Good thing I kept the receipt for those polos as I just drug all the t-shirts back out. Time to git to bowling and I really hope Jeff Gordon wins the Sprint Cup this year.

Excuses..More Excuses

They've started already. The excuses. The delays. NOT EVEN STARTED YET and I am already backpedaling. I have decided to move the start date of the new healthier me program to the Tuesday after Labor Day. I just know that weekend will be a blow out and I will fall off. I can see it now, go to the neighborhood BBQ. SW reaches into the cooler and goes to hand me a beer. I politely decline saying I am trying to be more healthy. He promptly calls me a pussy. Then he chucks the beer to me and I send it back saying "No Thanks". He then will ask why my panties are in such a wad and shout at the top of his lungs "FBG is a WUSS!". At which point I will snatch the beer from him and promptly chug all 12 wonderfully cool ounces.

So knowing that all this will happen I have decided to make Labor Day weekend my "Coming Out Party" weekend. One last blow out. Ok..its an excuse but I LIKE IT. Don't hate.

Time to Get Off the Pot

There was always this strange saying in my family when I was growing up. "It's time to poop and get off the pot." Not exactly sure what it really means but I took it to mean that it was time to do your business and move forward. Make progress. So it's time for me to poop..and make progress. As I mentioned in my last entry I am somewhat overweight. Each passing day I feel worse. Clothes get tighter. I feel more fatigued. Just an overall sense of not being happy with my weight.

So I have made my decision to make a trial run at being healthier and it scares the crap out of me. I worry that I will quit. Its so much easier to go to McDonald's everyday for my morning iced coffee and Egg McMuffin. That's a nice healthy start of 500 calories, 108 calories in that Egg McMuffin from FAT. This is not a muse (read:rant) on McDonald's. I think over my 45+ years I have been a significant contributor to their stock price. This is a rant on my own unhealthy choices. Just like guns don't kill people, people kill people; McDonald's is not killing me, my own choices are killing me. (Later you'll get my rant on gun ownership but that is for another entry).

On August 31st I will officially begin a structured six week eating program designed by Dr. Joel Fuhrman called Eat To Live (website; book). Its basically a vegan (no animal products) eating program. It was used successfully by singer Alanis Morissette to lose 20 pounds.


I think she's hot so maybe I can achieve hot as well (ok..maybe not but its worth a try). A guy has to have something to work towards.

The good Dr. Fuhrman says this eating program will help your body get to its ideal weight. Here we go, one ideal weight coming up. Watch this spot for daily (maybe every other day; maybe weekly; maybe never) reports of my progress. I'd better get shopping. Hello Whole Foods.

Day One - Why Me!

Blogging. Not sure I get it but here we go. I thought I'd jump into another one of those "new media" things I keep hearing about. I know, I'm late to the blog party. I guess I went backwards. First I tried Twitter. Last night I finally added myself to Facebook. Now blogging. Oh God what's next? I really hope its not my own porn site. Believe me, no one wants to see that, or me..naked..half naked..partially naked..ok fine, I need to remain in long pants, long sleeve shirt, sweater and duster so that I cover every part of my blanched, rotund self.

So why blog? I don't know. Thanks for coming!

No really, why blog? I guess to truly answer that question you need to know a little bit about me. I am a male in my mid 40's. Married, children, cats, dog, fish, good job, lousy commute, bald( been that since early 20's) and increasingly FAT.

Got on the scale yesterday and I am now the heaviest I have ever been. I am 6'3" and 228 lbs. Now some of you may say FAT? Come on! No really. I should be around 180 lbs so I thought I would start this blog as a way of "motivating" myself to drop those extra lbs. Nothing like advertising to the world your desires. Peer pressure is always a good motivator.

In addition to writing about my progress toward a more healthier me, I might also use this space to muse (read: rant) about things that are just swimming around in my cranium from time to time. Don't know exactly what those will be but there will probably be rantings, I mean musings, about bad drivers, jaywalkers, how bad the Redskins suck and of course fat people.

If you're the one person reading this, thanks for stopping by. Drop me an email at doug@dcfitness.com and let me know what you'd like to see me rant about.