Dad On A Diet, The Journey begins.......Again

D

DOAD

New member
First I want to thank any and all who have taken the time to click on my humble little diary. I welcome your encouragement, your comments and your support and sometimes a little tough love if that is what is needed.

A little about me. I am a Dad on a Diet or DOAD (I know, not very original but it reinforces why I am doing this). I am 42 years old. I am 6'2" and currently weigh in a svelte 330 lbs. As my name implies, I am a Dad to three kids and they are the chief reason I am doing this. As my children are getting older, I no longer want to be the fat Dad. I no longer want to be the biggest guy in the room. I am finding that my weight is holding us back. We live in Southern California and right next to the beach. My kids want to be active, they want to be in the water surfing or stand up paddle boarding and since I have gained the weight I cannot do this with them. I am tired of standing on the sidelines.

A little more background on me. I was very active through college, Played DIV 1 Football and stayed in pretty good shape. After college, my activity level dropped dramatically as life progressed with job, marriage and then kids but my food consumption did not drop accordinlgy. Its funny how we sometimes do not see ourselves accurately. Sure I gained a few lbs here and there but I still looked and felt pretty good, Sure this shirt no longer fits, must have shrunk in the dryer. Sure I just broke this chair, must be a design or manufacturering defect. As the years went on, so did the pounds. A few years ago I was at my highest 365! Ouch that even is painful to type. I made an effort to lose the weight and I did kinda sorta lose it. Got down to sub 300 and stayed there for a little while but then slowly old habits began to surface once more and I was putting the weight back on.

Why I think I have failed in the past- To be brutally honest with myself, I just got lazy. It's hard saying no to food and its easy saying no to working out. Dieting Sucks, Its hard, its takes a lot of self disciplne, Diet food is horrible and takes too long to see any real results. You do not think about how great the destination is going to be, you only realize that the journey will be a long and winding road (Cue Beatles)

Why I think I will succeed this time- Once again to be brutally honest, I do not truly know. I am going about it differently this time. For one, I think I need some form of accountability. That is where you wonderful people sharing the same challenges and victories as I am come into play. I am taking it slow this time. In the past I would basically go cold turkey. Sunday eat my last "Regular" meal and starting on Monday, nothing but lean meats, and veggies. Well that doesn't work for me and I am sure that doesn't work for many of you. So this time around I am slowly eliminating items from my list. The first thing to go was fast food. That was one of my major downfalls, I would work all day, not eating much breakfast or lunch then on my way home would swing through a drive thru to pick up something for the brutal SoCal commute home. I would basically be eating a full dinner before I reached home and had another full dinner with seconds or even thirds at times. The second thing I did was to severly limit liquid calories (Soda, Beer, Juice, etc) and the last thing I did was start food journaling. When I started this I was closer to 350 and am now down to 330 so something is working.

Once again, Thank you in advance for any support you offer, I know I will stumble and fall at times. It's a cliche but it's true. Its not the number of times you fall down but the number of times you get up. Well I got off the mat this last time, signed up, and am putting myself out there for all to see. This time next year, I will paddleboarding with the best of them.

DOAD
 
Welcome to Friday! Today is my weigh-in day. I jump on the scale throughout the week but Fridays are the days I have selected to officially record my weight. Jumped on the scale this morning and it read 330.8. My official starting weight was 340 on the 5th of August. My goal is 10 pounds a month.
I have a few milestones I am going to track.

Milestone Prediction
under 300 Lbs Dec 1, 2014
50 lbs lost Jan 1, 2015
Weigh 275 Mid Mar, 2015
Weigh 250 Mid June, 2015
100 lbs lost Mid August 2015
 
Welcome aboard DOAD. I started off at 5'11" 375, and first posted on here a few months later at 336 pounds and that was October of 2012. Weighed 185 this morning. So it is doable, particularly for a gifted athlete (Div 1 football is no joke, even at a non-powerhouse).

I do believe as long as your body co-operates, that exercise should be a key component for you. It allows you more leeway with food, improves your moods and of course all the physical benefits. And of course it's also something, in your case, your body expects you to do.

As for So Cal, it's an odd place. It's about half paradise on Earth and half a hellish living nightmare (as you say commuting there is as bad as anywhere on the planet). I'm in Arizona and many of your former neighbors have fled here.
 
Thanks for stopping by. I gotta tell you, I have read through your Diary and you are one of the main reasons that I am here. Watching your transformation was incredible. Thank you for sharing.

Body is a little broken down but I can still move with the best of them..Well at least the best of them that are old and overweight :) I renewed my gym membership last month and am surprised on how quickly my body adapted to being back in the gym. Going slow at first but have a plan to ramp up over the next 7 weeks.

As far as living in SoCal, couldn't agree with you more. There are parts I love, Like watching the sunset in the ocean to parts I hate. Sitting on the parking lot that is the 5-405 Y. I have some friends that moved to Phoenix (Buckeye)
 
The second thing I did was to severly limit liquid calories (Soda, Beer, Juice, etc)
Click to expand...


Hey DOAD,

Does this mean you do not want to do this anymore, or you plan on doing it now?


The thing about calories is that I am very outspoken in that I hate them and think paying attention to them leads to failure for millions of people. I lost 70 pounds in about 4 months and I was successful because I finally got away from all of that calorie counting stuff. I didn't exercise to do this and I wasn't hungry. I am a 100% real person and I am not trying to be a jerk here...I just hate to see people suffer with "dieting".



People say "a calorie is a calorie" and I couldn't disagree more. An avocado has 230 or so calories and is a miracle of nature. It has healthy fats that are absolutely essential for life, and it tastes amazing.


A Coke has 150 calories and 10 teaspoons of sugar and causes so many problems in the body it's unreal.



So to look at foods or drinks in terms of calories and staying under some magic number of them without paying any attention to what else is in that product is a weight loss method that I think a lot of people would agree really isn't working very well for a few million people.



You seem to like eating. And I think that with traditional "diets" and calorie counting you think you can't eat. But you can. You absolutely can eat food all day long if that food nourishes your body and supplies your 100 trillion cells with essential vitamins, nutrients and minerals. I eat a lot during the day. I love eating.


I don't gain weight anymore. Not one pound. So I keep eating. For the past few weeks I have been having a snack every single night that I think 99% of people would say is terrible for weight loss or weight management.


It is a piece of toast with either coconut oil or real butter on it, then peanut butter, then some slices of banana. I eat the rest of the banana while I wait for the toast to finish because I love bananas. I think calorie-wise this snack is about 400 total.


And I have not, and will not gain weight from eating it. How? Why?


Because I watch out for sugar. The peanut butter has no sugar because it's not Skippy or Jiff brand...it's all natural, so it has peanuts and salt only. And it tastes so good!


The banana has fructose (sugar) but like other fruit, it has fiber. That fiber makes that sugar harder to absorb, so the body has a chance to burn the fat it creates over time. A 20oz coke doesn't give the body this option. It gets overloaded and insulin joins the game and it's just terrible for health and weight.


The coconut oil in my snack is 100% healthy and fine. Fats are essential to life, so I pay no attention to them as long as they come from healthy sources. Butter is the same. I get unsalted unsweetened butter, so there ins't a bunch of sugar in it.



Juice is no better than a Coke. A V-8 Fusion has 22 grams of sugar in a container. If you measured that out, it would be about 5.5 teaspoons. But it's "only 100 calories".


This is where I have a problem with calories and it's why so many people are sick from counting calories and not even seeing the absolute ton of sugar they are taking in in "healthy" foods.


I hope I'm not coming off rude or anything like that...I have no motive here other than to help. Looking back at a timeline of my life, I see counting calories over on the left...right in line with staying the same weight.


On the right I see forgetting all about calories and feeding my body with those things it was craving and effortless weight loss. The human body doesn't want skim milk with 12 grams (3 teaspoons) of sugar per 1 cup. The human body doesn't want a Lean Pocket or any other junk.


The human body wants those vitamins and minerals and nutrients. The second you give it those things it will drop weight fast. So fast you won't believe it.



What I am trying to say is that you can eat. You can eat and be full and your body will thank you for it if it's the right foods. 80% of the foods from the store have added sugar. The body doesn't want this and is not thanking anybody for eating it these days.


Contrary to what people say, sugar is not "pure energy"...glucose is, and the human body can make glucose out of that avocado a million times better than the coke.


Cheers
 
Wally274 Thanks for stopping by. I have already cut the calorie laden drinks. For me that mainly meant sodas and sugary drinks (Starbucks, I'm looking at you). I am a big craft beer fan and I still have one or two a week.

At this point I am more concerned about what I am putting in my body more than how much. I am eating throughout the day now. That is a change for me as I usually never ate breakfast, and would eat traditional lunch only when I took clients out. Would sustain myself throughout the day with regular soda or Starbucks runs and snack food like Doritos. I am making sure that I now eat a good breakfast, then a mid morning snack followed by a lunch and then an afternoon snack. Come dinner time, I am not overly hungry and that has helped a great deal.

I am food journaling but not exclusively for calories but to see the composition of what I am eating throughout the day. I can look back and see what really satisfied me and what did not. See where my energy levels were. We had to do that when I played, It helped our nutrition staff set our training table. As I look back on what I have been eating it is falling in line with a lot of what you said. There is little to no sugar. My Daughter has Celiac so there is not breads or pastas on the menu. Most of what I have been eating would be considered "clean". I have not eaten any processed food. Due to my daughter I do not buy a lot of that stuff because Gluten hides in many places and we cannot afford to slip.

Everything is a balance. A balance of eating right, feeding your body but also enjoying a little indulgence once in awhile. If it is the exception and not the norm, I think I can (and have) loose the weight and retain my sanity :)

DOAD
 
Hey DOAD,

That sounds great. For me, I am 100% convinced the cure for obesity and a lot of disease is avoiding sugar. You will feel really good as time goes by and after a while any processed or sugary food will make you kind of sick...at least it does me.


I am a beer lover too. But for a reason that nobody has ever been able to explain to me, I basically go into a withdrawal state if I have more than 1, and it makes me feel very sick and shaky and it's really not fun.


So every single night I have ONE beer that is any type that I want, and I enjoy it like I never did in the olden days (guzzling). It's truly one of the only treats I have anymore so I enjoy it and never have 2 of them.


Cheers!
 
Worked as a volunteer at the local Rodeo over the weekend (Yes we have a local rodeo here in Orange County) Temptations were a plenty but I did well. The allure of funnel cakes and shaved ice was like the siren's song but I had plenty of good snacks with me and plenty of bottled water so I was able to resist.

I'm trying not to make my dieting a big deal. I'm not out there broadcasting to everyone. To me it is a personal choice I have made. The issue is when everybody keeps offering you stuff. Its hard to turn down a nice big shaved ice when you are out in the parking lot directing traffic. I cannot use the whole I'm not thirsty excuse..Of course I'm thirsty, it's really hot and I am surrounding by running vehicles adding to the heat in a big dirt lot. People mean well, but sometimes the questions they ask or the advice they give seems a little much.

I come to this board to solicit advice from others going through the same thing I am. Some are a lot farther along and some are just starting but we all have a common string that attaches us. The desire to lose weight and to keep it off.
 
A belated welcome DOAD!

You seem to off to a great start. The planning ahead that saved you at the rodeo. Avoiding gluten has made avoiding processed foods much easier for me. I have elected to quit drinking until I am at a maintenance weight, but if you can moderate and fit it into your diet more power to you. I just found my self cheating on my diet after beer and drinking more than one too often so it didn't work for me.

I have lost weight whenever I have stuck to my diet. i recently rebounded in weight following an injury that I let derail my exercise (had to) and my diet (My stupid decision). So now I find myself cleaning up after the pity party and dragging butt in workout shorts that are a bit tighter than before.

The forum is a bit slow these days, but that will change. Stick around even when you slip up and you will find it easier to get back on track. I hope you continue to have great success and I look forward to seeing you around.
 
Quercus- Thanks for stopping by. I toyed with the idea of eliminating beer but since I literally only have 2 a week, My thinking is that how much does 2 beers truly effect my diet. In the past, not only would I drink my beer(s) but would accompany it with things like nachos or wings and that is where I got into trouble.

For me, Planning on what I am going to eat for the day has been my greatest tool. It forces me to eat breakfast, lunch and my snacks through out day and that keeps me from the binge eating of the past (I happily speed past that In-n-out drive-thru). It will always be a struggle but I gotta remember what the end result is. Like someone once said. " Nothing tastes as good as Skinny Feels"

DOAD
 
2 awesome games at the big A. Get the brooms out. First time back at the stadium since I started my diet and did really well. Never really noticed the better options available.
Weighed in on friday and was down to 327. I'm happy with the rate and progress,
Hope everybody is enjoying the three day weekend here in the states.

DOAD
 
I love this time of year. Kids are back in school, meaningful football is on TV and cooler weather is just around the corner. It also means the holidays are just around the corner and that has always been when I fall off.
Did my weigh in on Friday and was down to 325. Losing about 2 pounds a week. I've been tracking and that really helps me. I tweaked my shoulder last week so I have not been to gym. I figure I can just walk around my neighborhood since I am not lifting so I have been doing that instead. Weather is a little warm but the evening are pleasant.

DOAD
 
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