From Ben Does Life - 10 Superficial Reasons to Lose Weight.

So one of the many reasons this blog was started was because of Ben Davis. I've got a link to his site in the sidebar. He's lost over 130 pounds during the course of his 2-year journey. He had a funny post today and i thought I would post my thoughts on his list of reasons in italics.

10 Superficial Reasons to Lose Weight. Because we can't always be politically correct.

• You don’t have to pull the seatbelt as far to click it. That's definitely the case.
• Let’s be honest, chub-rub sucks. I've really noticed that on the pants I wear around the waistline. My pants are much looser and my belt isn't strained.
• Far fewer sweat stains. Haven't really noticed. Would need to ask my wife that one.
• Cartwheels are much easier (and graceful). Haven't tried. Don't plan to.
• No more pulling the shirt out of fat rolls when you sit down. (don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I still think about this but definitely agree with him.
• People don’t eyeball you questioningly when you take the last cookie/slice of pizza. Luckily I haven't had the urge to have that much pizza where there is only one piece left or one cookie left in the jar.
• You can put your shoes on like a normal person. For those of you that have never been obese, trust us, it’s really really hard to put shoes on. Slip on shoes were the norm but it's definitely much easier to put shoes on or tie them.
• No more fat-tax ($2 for XXL and up shirts) Still wearing XXL but they are much looser now.
• No more pretending like you’re wearing a T-shirt over your bathing suit to “prevent sunburns.” Can't wait for this summer.
• Floors don’t creak as loudly. Sneaking up on people is much easier. N/A

In the spirit of being a fair and balanced blogger, I will now list the reasons to stay fat.

• If you’re riding with friends in a two-door car, you always get shotgun, because everyone knows there’s no way you’re getting into the backseat without tearing some ligaments. Luckily I still ride shotgun because I'm 6'3" but I'm more willing to try and ride in the back now.

But even still, the lose-weight side wins convincingly 10-1. Let’s keep moving.

Check out Ben's blog, especially the archive to see how much he's changed in just over 2 years.

Down 60 pounds after 4 months

So I started this journey 4 months ago today - September 23rd, 2010. In 4 months time, I've lost 60 pounds. I stepped on the scale this morning and it said 276. Crazy! Like I said in my last post, it was probably 2003 when I last weighed somewhere in that ballpark.

I still don't look that great but I sure as heck look a lot better now than what I did 60+ pounds ago. Not sure what my final weight goal is to maintain. But I'm going to keep going as long as I do it the right way and continue to eat right and also get some exercise.

Here's the proof:

A little historical perspective

I stopped by my local clinic today where I have always gone since my middle school and high school days for checkups, physicals, sickness, etc. I wanted to get a copy of my medical records to find out what I weighed over the years. They only had access to a few appointments as they would have to do research on paper records prior to at least 2004. So I got what was available since then and had 3 different occasions that showed that my weight had been on the rise since 2004.

December 13, 2004 - 316 pounds
June 21, 2007 - 335 pounds
April 28, 2010 - 340.5 pounds

Granted that each of these times I had on clothes but that would only account for 2 or 3 pounds, maybe. Regardless, I was on the wrong track. My weight was increasing. Some years were much worse than others - gaining almost 20 pounds in 2 1/2 years time. I'd like to know more going back further but I wouldn't know for a week or two. I might have the clinic go and do that eventually.

I can recall from memory that I was in the 275 pound range in mid to late 2003. As of this morning I'm almost back there. I can also remember stepping on the scale at my in-laws with 292 being displayed and knowing that chances were good that the next time I was there I wouldn't be able to know my weight as the scale maxed out at 300. That had to be late 2003, probably Thanksgiving or Christmas of that year. Pretty scary if I did in fact gain over 20 pounds between December 2003 and December 2004.

It's good to look back to see how far I've come. It's that much more incentive to keep going in the direction I am now.

Been awhile...

It's been over 2 weeks since my last post. It's time for my weekly weigh-in tomorrow morning. I'm hoping to be under 280 pounds. Tomorrow will also be the 100th day in a row for keeping track of what I eat and calories consumed via MyFitnessPal.com.
I've also signed up for the St. Patrick's Day race in Manhattan on March 19th. I'll be running the 2-mile race.
Everything else has been going well. I haven't cheated except for maybe a couple times. I haven't made myself crazy by fighting against on whether or not to have a cookie for example. Just need to keep on keeping on, know what I mean?

Holiday woes...not so much

Been a while since my last post. I made it through the holidayswithout overeating except for two occasions.

The first was Christmas Eve. It was a gathering of all of my aunts, uncles and cousins with all sorts of good food like chili, chicken noodle soup, cake, cookies, dips, etc. I ate a little bit of everything but didn't go crazy and pile it all on my plate. I was definitely full and hadn't felt that way in a long time where my stomach ached from eating too much.

The second was New Years Eve. We went to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner and I didn't leave much on my plate. I had the chicken and crabmeat in addition to the salad, soup, vegetables, and rice that every meal comes with there. It wasn't all that bad other than the rice and the oil and sauces it's cooked in front of everyone.

Other than that I'm in the 285 pound range. I'm going to register for St. Patty's Day race soon. It's a 2-mile race on March 19th. Got to start training for that as well exercise in general.