Alligatorob's Diary

It was a good day, I ate well, exercised, and feel good tonight. I sacrificed my protein goal a bit to eat more peaches, but I think I will be ok. Did 2 hours and 35 minutes in the gym, a new record. And I had to leave because I ran out of time, not exhaustion. I guess 3 days off from the gym were good for me. Today I ate not just pears and peaches, but okra, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and eggplant fresh from the garden. Its a great time of year for the gardener here.
Petal001 said:
Tomatoes and peaches fresh from the garden sound delicious and nicer then protein powders
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Thanks Petal, and I agree I think I will back off a bit on the protein goal to let me eat more of our fresh harvest while we have it. Too hot for me too!
Emilyrose said:
appreciating the drizzly day here
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Send some of that cool drizzle our way. When we do have rain this time of year it rarely makes it to the ground. You can see the rain falling but it evaporates far above.
Cate said:
I think I’ll appreciate our overcast & drizzly day more now too. Perspective- it’s good for us :)
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An overcast drizzly day would be great about now!
Xena said:
Yes! I was so happy to see pears at the store again, been a long time without them. I bought some that weren't ripe and later bought some more that look a bit more yellow and ripe.
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Hey Xena, I am eating a few of our little pears, but they are not yet ripe or really very good, but they are ours. Our trees are too small to produce many, but we have neighbors with pears and they should be ripe and good soon. Past years we traded for peaches, but may not have enough peaches for much trading this year.
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It's pouring rain here right now. Will try wishing it across the Atlantic Ocean.
Glad you're eating your produce from the garden , I bet it's more satisfying than protein dust as you call it .
 
alligatorob said:
...okra, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and eggplant fresh from the garden. Its a great time of year for the gardener here.
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Oh, my! Sounds brilliant! And that run of okra, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and eggplant sounds like a great recipe - a little olive oil, dash of lemon juice and pepper... mmm... I can almost smell it! :)

(I've never managed to grow eggplant, for some reason - that is, the plants have grown, but not really given any eggplant worth eating.)
 
From my very first diary post:
alligatorob said:
I am just getting started, yesterday was my first day.

I weighed in at 320 lbs, I am thinking my ideal weight is 160, so I have about 160 lbs to lose. I know that is a real long term goal, my immediate goal is to do well today.
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I weighted 160 this morning, a new low, but more importantly a kind of milestone. I am now weigh exactly 1/2 what I did when I started this diet, and am at the original goal I set for myself. It feels good!

I have been trying to be in maintenance for a few weeks now so loosing another pound wasn't planed, but its just one pound down from the range I have been in all month.

Yesterday was a good day, I ate well, exercised, and felt good. Got in 2 hours and 15 minutes at the gym, I was pretty tired by the end but it felt good. Ate more from the garden and made my protein goal despite eating a lot of peaches.
Petal001 said:
It's pouring rain here right now. Will try wishing it across the Atlantic Ocean.
Glad you're eating your produce from the garden , I bet it's more satisfying than protein dust as you call it .
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Your wishing hasn't worked yet, but I'm hoping! And the garden produce was better than protein dust, if I have to choose again it will be garden food!
Emilyrose said:
Reminds me of this sketch from the Fat Fighters group on Little Britain:
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LOL! So we can have all the dust we want, good to know!
aiminglow said:
(I've never managed to grow eggplant, for some reason - that is, the plants have grown, but not really given any eggplant worth eating.)
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I have had that problem too, it seems that finding the right variety for your garden and climate is the trick. In Florida I pretty much had it down, got lots of eggplant and had a long season, ripe eggplant from May to December. First year in Utah, none, as you say just plants no eggplant. Now we get a fair crop from July through September, just different varieties than we got in Florida. If you get a chance to try again talk to someone local about what works best.
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LaMaria said:
How much will your calorie allowance go up by?
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How did I know you would ask? Here is the second post from my diary, the very first response I got:
LaMaria said:
Hey Alligatorob and welcome to the diaries! The first thing I see is that your calories are VERY low, which is often hard to maintain in the long run. Losing the weight a little more slowly tends to be easier to maintain. Maybe more like 1750 a day if you´re sedentary? Either way: best of luck!
LaMa
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You are nothing if not consistent and persistent! I really do appreciate your advice, and I have listened to you more than you probably know. You have been my most consistent supporter here, and I thank you for that!

I have already started increasing a little, what was originally intended as a 1,500 calorie a day cap is not more of an average target. That lets me add 50 or so a day. If I lose more I will increase more. The trainer at the gym thinks I should increase even more and start gaining weight to build more muscle mass, not sure I am ready for that yet.
 
:rotflmao: I feel so called out! :rotflmao:Let's just say I love food and I want everyone to share the joy as much as possible. At your activity level your body is probably dying to add some muscle as soon as you up your calories enough. I can see the psychological problem with that though: the scale doesn't tell you *what* you added so your diet-habituated brain just sees the needle moving in the wrong direction.
 
alligatorob said:
From my very first diary post:
I weighted 160 this morning, a new low, but more importantly a kind of milestone. I am now weigh exactly 1/2 what I did when I started this diet, and am at the original goal I set for myself. It feels good!
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Wow!!!! That's so inspiring and amazing!!! I've skimmed through parts of your journal - and your continued motivation and consistency is really something. Great job!
 
So happy for you that you reached your original goal Rob. That's really exciting and SUCH a fantastic achievement.

Not an easy thing to do for most people, and you did.
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You are an amazing man, Rob. What an achievement!
This may be am excellent time to have a proper skin fold measurement done to determine your body fat percentage & calculate your muscle mass & to work on rebuilding any muscle lost. If you worked in conjunction with the personal trainer, it might give you the confidence to add even more calories. Maybe seeing a nutritionist would be an even better idea.
 
It was a good day, ate well, exercised and I feel good tonight. I did 2 hours in the gym and got pretty tired, but it was good tired. Ate well, not so much protein powder and more peaches, but I think I will be ok. I got my full blood test report today and the only "flag" I had was the BUN/Creatinine ratio, and I see one cause of that can be a high protein diet.
LaMaria said:
At your activity level your body is probably dying to add some muscle as soon as you up your calories enough. I can see the psychological problem with that though: the scale doesn't tell you *what* you added so your diet-habituated brain just sees the needle moving in the wrong direction.
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Ok, I have been thinking about that, what are the reasons for adding muscle weight? Does it make you healthier or more mobile or agile? It seems to me that in some ways weight is weight, more tissue for your heart to pump blood through. I know the aesthetic appeal, but I am kind of beyond that one. LaMa, I share your love of food, makes all of this a bit harder I think.
Jenniquest said:
Wow!!!! That's so inspiring and amazing!!! I've skimmed through parts of your journal - and your continued motivation and consistency is really something. Great job!
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Thanks Jenni, kind words indeed. It has been a long process, and I have gotten invaluable help here with it.
Emilyrose said:
Not an easy thing to do for most people, and you did.
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I know not a lot of people end up making their goals, and this is a first for me. But looking back it doesn't seem so hard, just one day at a time. Really makes me wonder why it took me so long to get around to doing it...
DietAccountability101 said:
That's an incredible milestone Rob - just shows how hard work and consistency pay off!
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Thanks DA, I appreciate the support!
Cate said:
This may be am excellent time to have a proper skin fold measurement done to determine your body fat percentage & calculate your muscle mass & to work on rebuilding any muscle lost. If you worked in conjunction with the personal trainer, it might give you the confidence to add even more calories. Maybe seeing a nutritionist would be an even better idea.
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I did have the skin fold test done a few weeks ago and my body fat came out to 16%, pretty good, it surprised me. The trainer I work with has a nutrition degree, and has worked as a nutritionist off and on, but I suspect she is mostly focused on muscle and body building, it might well help to talk to another one. You have also been one of my most consistent and helpful supporters throughout this process, could not have done it without you and the others!
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Hey Rob, Look at you!! Congratulations, what a journey! I'm happy the approach worked for you. It was very impressive! I love the activity you are doing now and all the things you're incorporating and glad you have shared it. I wish you the best in maintenance.
 
One reason to add muscle mass is being able to eat more without gaining fat :p But more importantly we all tend to lose muscle mass as we age and people who start out with a low amount of muscle mass are more likely to lose mobility and independence early. Being able to eat more, by the way, isn't just pleasurable but also means you have a much better chance of hitting all your nutritional targets (macros, vitamins, minerals, trace elements).
 
Congratulations on your success Rob . Happy days , party party . :party::party:
You yourself have been extremely consistent and I actually don't think you had one binge in all that time or really fell off the wagon at all. It is a totally super achievement. Not many can do it that way .
 
Petal001 said:
You yourself have been extremely consistent and I actually don't think you had one binge in all that time or really fell off the wagon at all. It is a totally super achievement. Not many can do it that way .
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Yeah, that thought struck me as well. What resilience from our guy Rob! :party:
 
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