Successful dieting or how to be miserable for months without actually doing longterm lifestyle adjustments

[Jay Walk]

Nice work Wired,

I don't own a scale but quit sweets and alcohol a few months ago in preparation for a physical this month.

Blood pressure was under 130 (126) for the first time in years.

Blood levels were mixed.

Friday night was the first time in my life that I camped without drinking any beer.
Felt good too.

 

[wired]

Nice work Wired,

I don't own a scale but quit sweets and alcohol a few months ago in preparation for a physical this month.

Blood pressure was under 130 (126) for the first time in years.

Blood levels were mixed.

Friday night was the first time in my life that I camped without drinking any beer.
Felt good too.

I haven't had a beer since December. Too many carbs. I have downed a few pints of whisky though but again it all gets tallied and adjusted for in my monthly averages. 840 calories in a pint divided over a week lets me amortize it nicely. One interesting thing about dieting like this as I mentioned earlier you become very attuned to exactly what small changes in diet will do to your metabolism or at least to spot changes in weight. I know if I drink a pint of whisky this even that tomorrow I will be down about 2.5 lbs under where I would normally be. Thats just from dehydration caused by the alcohol. By the next day it will be back up again. One of the tricks to winning those office weight loss challenges/pools after new years . I always win them. Girls are hard to beat though , weight wise. They seldom set those things up by total lbs lost and usually set them up by percentage. A 140 lb woman only has to lose 14 lbs to drop 10% of her body weight whereas a 240 lbs guy needs to drop 24 lbs to lose 10%. Women seldom stick to diets though. I dont know why. My daughter in law had bypass surgery done last year and dropped from 240 to 120 in a year but that was after years of trying to diet. My son and his wife get mad at me when I tell them she didn't need to do that . Just eat less. In the end thats all that really took the weight off.

I have a physical coming up on the 4th. It'll be interesting to compare blood work numbers from last time I had one a year and a half ago. At that time i was told I was prediabetic. Kind of set me up for this diet excursion. I have no desire to be anything diabetic or obese. I'm already planning my post diet transition. When I get to 190 I'm going to shift to a maintenance diet at 2600 calories a day which after a few months of somewhat comfortable living on 1600 a day seems like excessive gorging.

 

[boattail]

Have you noticed if each year you gain back more than before? I work with a guy that has done the crash diet three times and each time he bounces back bigger and bigger.

Everyone is different so weight loss differs for everyone. I dropped 28 pounds over a years time and have kept it off going on two years just by eating less not differently.

 

[wired]

Have you noticed if each year you gain back more than before? I work with a guy that has done the crash diet three times and each time he bounces back bigger and bigger.

Everyone is different so weight loss differs for everyone. I dropped 28 pounds over a years time and have kept it off going on two years just by eating less not differently.

I'm at the point where I have to actively control it. I recognize that. Winging it doesn't work any more.

 

[wired]

Alright , did a physical the other day. A1c levels are way down and I'm not "prediabetic" any more. Alll my cholesterol numbers are in range of where they should be which is a first for me. I do take meds but theyre always high or low depending on the type. All in range now. . One thing that did come up is I have a couple of liver enzymes that are too high and possibly indicative of a early cirrhosis condition. Doctor said no reason to worry right now that he'd check again in 6 months but I decided to stop drinking nonetheless.

Kind of hit a wall at 220 though . I did adjust up my daily calorie limits to 1900 as 1600 was very difficult to conform to on the road when I travel for work.,

 

[wired]

I hit 50lb of weight loss today. Pretty much a record for me. It had kind of stalled there at 40 lbs . I had to kick it in high gear with the cycling,. Heading to my wifes work after lunch today on the bike. Its 12 miles away. Ive been doing about 70-80 miles a week. Trying to burn at least a third of what I eat beyond my basic BMR.

 

[wired]

Another milestone today. 56 lbs . I lost my age. 15 more to go.