Category: Scoop

I hear that often from many people with whom I discuss my weight loss. It seems that self-control, motivation, and desire to be healthy and/or to lose weight loses out to short-term gratification. I talk to so many people who are miserable at their weight or unhappy with their declining health, yet they are unwilling to make choices that would preclude certain items from their diet.

Look, I never said it was easy. Heck, I think I’ve said more than a few times in previous posts that it’s hard work. However, I think that it really has to do with your mindset and what  you are willing to do.

Let’s take delicious foods that I can no longer eat. Spaghetti. Ravioli. Lasagna. You see where I’m going with this. All of those are super bad for me, and well, everyone else, too. Pasta is the “Debil!” I had to change how I looked at pasta: it’s a no-go. Ever. It wasn’t something I could “cheat” or eat every now and then. It’s not even something I will eat once I’m at my target healthy weight. It’s off-limits forever. Will I miss it? Absolutely. However, here’s the little trick I learned and it’s been working well for me: for every food I can no longer eat or have, there are hundreds or even thousands that are just as good or better for me, and in some cases, there are alternatives that while not wholly healthy, are healthier.

Paleo chocolate cake. Seriously. It’s amazing.

There are so many great foods out there that have healthy ingredients with no added sugar that I no longer miss the “bad” foods. Heck, Sherry even found a bread that we can have that is made with cashew butter instead of wheat. It is really good!

I will never find a 1:1 replacement for pasta. I don’t think it’s really possible, so for that reason alone, I’ve given it up. Forever. It’s drastic, but it works for me. In place of pasta, I eat many other foods that are super-delicious and healthy for me. Eating meals that taste great goes a long way toward making the tough decisions easier and it makes it easier to stick with a healthy eating plan. Eating the same salad or baked chicken breast day after day would kill me, and I’d have been back to eating horribly months ago.

Current weight: 219.1: 70.8 lbs lost. It’s a little slower in the past week than I’d like, but I lost another inch or two off my waist, so I’m not complaining. It’s not all about weight; I have to remind myself of that sometimes.

No. No, no, no, no, NO!

I know people who tell me they couldn’t do what I’m doing because they don’t like to eat salads and baked chicken all the time. Well, I don’t like that either, and honestly, I can’t remember the last time I had salad and grilled chicken (three or four weeks ago, maybe?).

Eating right doesn’t mean eating salad all the time. Eating right doesn’t limit your meat options to just baked chicken.

I eat bacon, steak, eggs, ribs, brisket, sausage, shrimp, fish, crabs, lobster, pork, and chicken for meat. My veggies include (but are not limited to) asparagus, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, celery, and more. I eat salad typically when we go to a restaurant and they offer some. That’s about it.

You don’t have to deny yourself good food or variety to eat right. That’s ludicrous. Just stay away from carbs and sugar and you’ll be well on your way to being healthier and losing weight (if that’s what you’re in for).

I’ve lost 68.3 lbs since August 31st. That’s a lot of weight to lose in less than 5 months. It is impossible to not notice anymore, and every single person I’ve talked to who hasn’t seen me since August of last year has been surprised by my new appearance. My wife receives the same attention.

Here is a photo of us in 2012, and again a week ago.

Continue reading “Losing weight over time” →

I’m cynical when it comes to the diet industry, because I honestly don’t think they don’t want you to succeed. I know people who did Weight Watchers 5, 10, and 15 or more years ago, and they are just as fat or fatter than they were before they started. I think they want to keep you on the teat, so to speak, so that they can make more money off of you. What evidence leads me to believe this? Look no further than today’s news where Oprah tweets, “Eat bread. Lose weight. Whaaatttt?” and then she posts hash tag, “#ComeJoinMe http://weightwtch.rs/oprah.”

Guess what. She’s making money off this, and so is weight watchers. On top of that, the advice she’s giving is literally setting people up for failure. If I were to eat bread, I would sabotage all the progress I’ve made so far. Could I lose weight with Weight Watchers? Probably. How about Weight Watchers and bread? I firmly believe that I would not be achieving the great weight loss rate I’m experiencing right now if I were on Weight Watchers and eating bread. There’s no way.

Now, I’m not willing to try the Weight Watchers and bread diet as an experiment. I don’t trust the science there, and I think that Oprah is doing all people struggling with weight and healthy living a huge disservice to pad her already over-stuffed wallet with shitty advice. She’s preying on those who are the most vulnerable: people who are overweight and looking for any way to lose weight. Oprah presents it as an easy way, hence the “Eat Bread. Lose Weight” quote.

Do you really want to help your fans, Oprah? Stop shilling and be honest with them. Carbs are the enemy, and avoiding the subject for personal gain is doing more harm than good and is morally reprehensible. Shame on you!

 

“When you lose weight, you lose fat cells.” This is not true.

“When you exercise, you burn fat.” Also not true.

These two false statements are in not only advertising you see for all the wonder diet pills, supplements, and exercise videos out there, but have been burned into our brains by an education system that was being fed bullshit from the government that was, in turn, being paid to spew this bullshit by the different food lobbies.

Milk does a body good. Remember that huge campaign in the 80’s? Turns out that milk isn’t so awesome for the body. But the government said it was, so it’s true, right? Well, when you find out that the milk lobby paid for that entire campaign, things start to get muddy a bit. (Source)

So, who can we believe?

Continue reading “Plateaus and Fat Loss” →

I receive a lot of personal messages on Facebook from friends who are inspired by my weight loss and want to know what I am doing. Like I said in my last post, I have an internal and unwritten script that I use, and I go through it with everyone. Some people who have asked me for info have gone on to start their own journey towards being healthy. Others… well, they are still looking for the easy way to lose weight. They are waiting for the magic pill that will just make the weight go away without any effort or suffering at all.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s not going to happen.

(Trigger warning: following the MORE link will display images that may make people struggling with food images have a hard time with sticking to their commitment to eating right. If you are one of those people, please don’t click MORE)

Continue reading “Mixed Messages and Commitment” →

Now that I’ve lost over 65 lbs since August 31st (that’s less than five months for those following at home), I get lots of questions from people. The most common is, “How did you do it?” followed by, “What’s your secret?”

There’s great news! First, I can answer how I did it, and second, there’s no secret!

Continue reading “Anti-Sugar Evangelist” →

After dinner, which was a delicious Tex-Mex Paleo Casserole I wrote the previous blog entry about, my wife and I watched some TV shows together, and after she went to sleep, I went to play some computer games and catch up on some reading. For some reason, my mind kept wandering to eating, something that hasn’t happened to me in a long time. Months.

What happened? What is causing this? Turns out, it’s a quite simple answer:

There is a point at which cutting calories will work against weight loss because consuming too few calories (or too few meals) leads to increased appetite and low satiety as your body prevents starvation. (Source)

Continue reading “It got rough last night” →

One of the toughest things about learning to eat well is finding something to eat when you don’t have the time or energy to put together a good meal. One way to prepare for this is to make meals you can freeze or put in the refrigerator for a few days that can be ready in a moment’s notice. My wife and I do this on the weekends so that we can have some snacks or easy lunch/dinner during the week after a particularly rough day.

Continue reading “Fast food when eating right” →

It’s funny to look at. When people post this, we giggle because we know we’ve been there or done this before. However, this kind of stuff actually makes me sad for people who want to lose weight because it tells me that they recognize that they’re fat and just can’t muster the inner strength to do something about it. Posting stuff like this is a cry for help. It’s a person saying, “Look world, I need help to lose weight. Give me something I can follow!”

Good news. With some minor mind-hacks, you can do something about it and be able to live with your decisions with little pain.

Continue reading “It may be funny, but…” →