bluebunny27's Daily Check In

[oolala53]

San Diego January weather

THE AVERAGE MINIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH IS 49.7
DEGREES, THE AVERAGE MAXIMUM 65.8 DEGREES AND THE MEAN 57.8
DEGREES. DAYTIME READINGS OFTEN REACH 70 DEGREES AND
OCCASIONALLY 80 DEGREES AND ON JANUARY 10 IN 1953 ROSE TO A HIGH OF 88 DEGREES.

WITH AN AVERAGE OF 7 DAYS WITH RAIN IT IS THE WETTEST MONTH OF
THE YEAR. THE NORMAL TOTAL IS 2.28 INCHES BUT AMOUNTS VARY
WIDELY FROM YEAR TO YEAR RANGING FROM 8.06 INCHES IN 1995 TO NO RAIN IN SEVERAL JANUARYS...THE SUN SHINES 72 PERCENT OF THE TIME POSSIBLE AND THE AVERAGE MONTH HAS 12 CLEAR, 8 PARTLY CLOUDY AND 11 CLOUDY DAYS. HEAVY FOG OVERSPREADS THE CITY ON AN AVERAGE OF 3 DAYS EACH JANUARY.

Marc, I don't want to be an alarmist, but the security guard at school lost about 100 lbs. between the spring of the school year 2008/2009, and over the last year, it looks like he put back on about 30-40 lbs. He says now he realizes he was being too strict and couldn't keep it up. You're doing way better than he is, but there may be an even easier way.

[bluebunny27]

Thanks for your support oolala & NoSRocks !

I doubt I'll gain more weight back unlike the person you know, oolala ... I gain my weight back between feb. and apr. 2011, it's been rather stable after that. I am working hard now to lose at least half of that excess weight.

I'm trying to lower my weight a lil' bit but even losing 8-10 pounds would be fine with me. Maintaining at 190-195 was probably a lil' bit unrealistic for me anyway. 195-200 might be more reasonable long term. I know I'll never be 'thin',
anyway ...

Oh, also I found out a few months back I have a mild case of high blood pressure so losing a lil' bit of weight might help with that of course. I was thinking my blood pressure must have been way high back when I weighed 280 pounds if it's on the high side now after losing many pounds and exercising on a regular basis !)

I'll try to update here more regularly too since it helps me to stay 'focused'

The last time I talked to her my sister was thinking about San Diego, California, Arizona, Grand Canyon etc.

Sounds like she'll select a city in the south western part of the USA but she hasn't made up her mind yet. Of course then you can get a car and drive from place to place over there, visiting various places, etc.

I told her maybe she could even stay at your HOUSE/APARTMENT with her husband !!! No worries, it's only for a week... you can sleep on the couch, right , maybe rent a car if they want to borrow YOURS for their own personal use ?? hehe.

She can pick any city in north america (Except Alaska and Hawaii I believe !) Free plane tickets, round trip, leaving from Montreal.

Marc

39 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Lbs
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Lbs
(1 year : -90 Lbs)

Current Weight : 204-205 Lbs

[bluebunny27]

Alright, time to update ... quick one since I'm about to leave .... to go exercise outdoor, beautiful day, right. Cycling, Sprinting ... about 35-40 minutes total .... high intensity.

According to my LOG, I exercised hard 9 out of the past 10 days, crazy. (32 days out of the past 40, so my weight issues are certainly not related to a lack of exercise !)

I have been doing really well with my diet recently too, behaving like an angel really. A new trick I just developed, I call it : "The penalty"

The idea is you take something that you really like to
do/eat/drink etc. and you have to give yourself a penalty if you cheat on your diet.

For me, I picked : Drinking coffee. I wrote it down. If I cheat badly on my diet, no coffee at all the very next day, I am used to 3-4 cups ...

(if my last bad diet day was more than a week ago I wrote down that I can have one or 2 cups cup instead of none - you see. The penalty is less severe since I was quite good, yes, I cheated but it had been a long time so the penalty is less severe.)

I usually have 3-4 cups per day, love it so I know if I am bad and it's been less than a week it's gonna be really annoying not to have any coffee at all the next day - - suddenly cheating badly on my diet becomes a lot less tempting for some reason ! I don't want to cheat cos' I know it'll be tough to go a whole day without coffee.

Anyway I just started doing that and so far I haven't cheated at all, it's been 8 days now. I've lost a lil' bit of weight now too, about 2 pounds - - 202 pounds this morning so this new trick is definitely helping (I only weigh about once a week) .... Just 5-7 pounds more to go and I'll be much happier.

I know if I cheat there will be direct consequences that will be quite unpleasant so it makes me want to be good, it's not even that hard using this new concept. Also, there's no exceptions, you have to be strict, it's not like you can say, Oh, I won't get a penalty this time, bla-bla ... I wrote it down, NO EXCEPTIONS so I have no choice but to be good.

I just need to find a good term to describe it ... I was thinking about the 'Penalty phase' or 'Penalty box' ... it's just THE PENALTY for now.

You can apply this with anything ... I chose coffee but it can be anything you want, as long as it's something that you really enjoy of course so it's more effective. It has to be something you usually do every day and it has to be something that would be hard not to do, you see.


Marc

39 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Lbs
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Lbs
(1 year : -90 Lbs)

Current Weight : 202 Lbs

[Strawberry Roan]

Great plan, Marc. You sound great, very enthused again. So glad to "see" that.

I would say that posting here is my Penalty... I post honestly what I eat, drink and my exercise so it makes me stop and think, Do I want to post that for all the world to see (of course no one really has to see it but they COULD be reading). That has actually kept me accountable which is how many of the programs work, of course.

I will do my monthly weigh in Sunday and it will be good

Keep on keepin' on my friend.

[bluebunny27]

Thanks, Lil' Berry !

Yes, I am excited about this new concept since it seems highly effective .... at least for me ! That's what i need, a lil' discipline, heh.

I am not even tempted to cheat now because I know it would be so hard to go through one entire day without coffee and if I cheat 2 days in a row then it's 2 days in a row too, no coffee ... yikes.

It has to be hard so the penalty means something too of course. It has to be something I would really find annoying, heh.

I haven't cheated once since I started using this new PENALTY concept so I am pleased. I hope I can go down possibly under 200 pounds by the end of august if all goes well ... it should be easy if I stick to my diet of course.

Later I can ease up on the penalties of course, I can make 'em less severe, instead of NO COFFEE at all I can decide I'll have just one or two for example instead of my usual 3 to 4 cups per day. That would still be tough but not nearly as hard. I should have thought about this sooner, really.

I just need to be more strict now since I really want to lose another 6-7 pounds more ASAP (within a couple of months would be fine), I am sick of being over 200 pounds. I've been over that weight since march probably and struggling to get back down under that weight since then ... up n' down between 200 and 210 pounds the whole time.

Side note, I was cycling and sprinting in the hot sun today (Interval training) I was sweating bullets, I was pushing hard + behaving well, no cheating at all on my diet, spot on even if there are tempting things around, cookies, ice cream, I can't be bothered - - it feels good when you are doing well and it's not even a struggle, huh !?

You are doing so well too, very inspiring ! Congratulations !
Berry : SW 158 GW 145 CW 144
Whatever you are doing is working fiiiiiiiine !


Marc

39 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Lbs
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Lbs
(1 year : -90 Lbs)

Current Weight : 202 Lbs

[bluebunny27]

Hi !

Ok, I am back ... I thought it would be a good idea to get my daily check in up to date on a more regular basis... I see that I haven't done that in over a year, yikes ...

Recap, I lost 90 pounds within a year, from 11-1-2008 to 11-1-2009 ... I went from 280 to 190 pounds ... I'm 5'10", 40 years old.

I was maintaining rather well for a year and a half to 2 years and then started gaining weight slowly but surely again, not a whole lot, but I gained 20 pounds back from the 90 I lost ... Emotional eating, personal issues, Too many temptations, etc. I still eat very well most of the time but once in a while I have issues, sometimes with sweets, other times with salty treats, sometimes both ...

Ok, update ... first my weight ... I weigh approx. 208-209 pounds at the moment, not bad, but not great either ... I should weigh myself tomorrow morning to have the precise number but the last time I checked 3 days ago, I weighed 209.4 pounds. I have been doing well since then so I assume I will have lost at least a pound !

I guess I've been rather successful in general though, a lot of people gain all the weight they've lost back of course so only gaining back 20 is not so terrible but of course being a perfectionnist even if I only had gained 5 pounds back I would still be whining about that extra weight !

I mostly had issues with my diet, overeating, since I exercise as hard as I did when I lost that 90 pounds really. I have been struggling with overeating from time to time. I can be good all week long and then 2-3 days in a row I struggle a lot, overeat, (eating thousands of extra calories within a couple of hours) and then I have to work hard several days in a row to get back to where I was ...

I have tried 50 different things to prevent this from happening. It's harder to do than when I was losing the original 90 pounds when I was hardly ever cheating. I've been doing very well lately though, hardly any cheating at all ... so I guess the 50th one finally worked ! No, really .. I think it was easier to lose the weight in the first place than to maintain the loss later on ... geesh.

My exercise routine is still spot on ... working out 5-6 times per week, very hard, for 45 minutes to an hour each time. Summertime, I cycle and also sprint at the local soccer field (interval sprinting so I am sweating bullets by the time my work out is over ) Wintertime, I work out inside, calisthenics, jumping jacks and whatnot, free weights
too ...

Lately I have been doing a lot more though, I've trained 13 out of the past 14 days (I still update my personal habitcal daily, excellent tool)

I am working hard now to lose the extra weight I've gained back ... I would be very happy to lose 10 pounds at least from the 20 I've gained back within the next 3 to 4 months ... I burn a lot of calories the way I exercise, so as long as I don't cheat too much on my diet I should be alright, I'll have a more precise weigh in tomorrow morning actually so I'll post my exact weight ... posting my progress here will be another good incentive to "perform" well.

I'll try to update my check in at least once a week, maybe more ...

Marc

[oolala53]

Well, great to se you again. A year since you checked in! It's pretty easy for that to happen, though it hasn't happened to me yet with No S. I've been pretty much not checking in with housework for most of my adult life.

I'm in my 32nd month and I've never been completely happy with my S days, but I've been maintaining my 31-pound loss for about 6 months. Over the last 4 months, I've been getting stronger in no sweets or seconds, but I have small fails after dinner on my N days a lot, and I still have a yen to go overeat cookie dough just about every afternoon at work. It's just gotten a lot easier to brush the thought aside; I can't find any other reason than just plain old practice.

I hope you can decrease the length of your binges or extend the amount of time between them. That's what No S has done for me, anyway.

BTW, did you register at the National Weight Loss Registry? You're eligible>

[bluebunny27]

Hi, oolala !

You are a champion, maintaining so well ! Congratulations ! Putting me to shame, heh.
I maintained well for a year and a half, maybe 21 months, gaining back only 5 pounds (muscles !!) ... but I gained another 15 after that ... in the next year and a half ... oops.

National weight loss registry, I hadn't heard of that before ... I'll check it out. I am from Canada though, not sure if this is only for US citizens. I am not really qualified to give advice though since I gained 20 of the 90 pounds back ! I would feel like a 'phony' giving advice on how to maintain after a big weight loss ... even if most people would be happy with that result, gaining back only 20 out of the 90 pounds within 3 years, it doesn't work for me ... if I lose 10 now it wouldn't be that bad, at least maintaining 80 out of 90, that's pretty good.

Ok, official weigh in this morning ... and the result :
209.4 .... again ??!!

When I saw that this morning I thought : "Wow, That
S*CKS !!" because it's exactly the same weight as my last weigh in 3 days ago and I know I have been very good since then so I was assuming I would have lost at least half a pound, maybe one pound ... but no ... exactly the same number. I was surprised actually, I was sure I would have lost at least one pound, maybe more, I would have been ready to bet 1,000$ on that !!

This encourages me to be good though ... posting this result here so now I have to press on and keep my good habits in order to lose something for my next weigh in ... (I weigh in every 3-4 days now now so my next weigh in should be next tuesday or wednesday morning probably ...) Good incentive to behave really ... I should have kept on posting my results here.

Also I am setting my new goal ... I started at 210, maybe 210.4, sept. 1st ... and I want to go back down under 200, modest goal ... 10-11 pounds but IF I get there I may keep going to lose another 4-5 after that ... 10-11 pounds within 3 months ... and keeping my good habits, avoiding the overeating as much as possible.

This has really been my main problem ... usually once a week, sometimes twice and that lead to my weight gain, approx. 20 pounds, most of it since sept. 2010 ? For example last week I visited my buddy and of course, we were watching sports on TV, drinking beer, eating pretzel, ordering pizza late at night ...

I had good intentions to be reasonable when I got there but by the end of the evening I had had 4-5 beers, half a bag of pretzels, cashews, half of a large pizza, cake, etc. Geesh ... just one evening, eating 3,000 extra calories, (not sure how many !) "ruining" my week within a few hours. I had more calories that late evening then during the whole day, it was really 'mindless eating' too, not even because I was hungry !

Then in the next days I am working out hard and trying to restrict my calories to make up for that evening but of course this plan usually doesn't work because then I get too hungry or I get depressed, angry, because I failed the day before and this leads to another bad day, etc.

I need to limit those overeating days to a minimum to be successful, when I was losing my 90 pounds this would hardly ever happen, that's why it wasn't even that hard, really, compared to maintaining later on.

Hope you have a fine day.

Marc

[oolala53]

Yes, that kind of eating was actually my bane. Besides the guilt, how do you feel afterwards? I actually don't usually feel guilt as much as disappointment but my biggest motivation lately is the difference in how I feel. I'm full for a long time, it whacks out my appetite even into the next day; I don't enjoy my next several meals (often having just a big salad or veggies soup, not because of calories, but just because I don't want more) afterwards, and that is starting to get to me. I miss getting hungry for my meals! It's happened enough times in nearly 3 years that I think I can negotiate it now.

I am just barely inside my normal BMI. A lot of women my height and weight would want to lose 20 lbs. That's why it's relatively easy to maintain!

The Weight Loss Registry isn't only for Americans and it is for anyone who lost at least 30 lbs. and kept it off for more than a year. Many maintainers maintain at a weight a percentage higher than their lowest weight. You are still a success story, believe me. And it's not advice as much as just reporting what you did. I think it's by some kind of survey.

But I understand wanting to get the overeating under control.

Keep up the good work (really).

[~reneew]

Welcome back Marc! I'm confident that you can do it. I gained all that I lost while still coming here. I have problems thinking 100% and not "just this once". We learn as we go. Keep at it!

[Strawberry Roan]

So glad to see you again, Marc. You have done very well, as you said many gain back all they have lost and more. You are an inspiration to many on here and don't you forget it.

I am doing okay, a few pounds more than I need but I exercise daily and my clothes fit well so I suppose I have some muscle.

yeah, that's it It is just currently hiding under about five pounds of flab.

I agree that this board is a good place to keep one honest as everybody is very supportive, regardless.

To your health,

[bluebunny27]

Hi !

Sorry everyone, replying very late to your comments ...

Good point oolala, you are wise. It's usually a mix of guilt and thinking I am a failure even if I lost a lot
of weight before and it's no big deal to have gained 20 back ... I'm working on it hard now though ... I think i would be really
good at competitive eating competitions too because I can eat and eat and eat and it never stops ... not sure if my stomach is stretched because
I drink too much water or eat too much vegetables (huuuge salad every day for lunch) ... but I seem to never feel really full, so it's easy for me to gain a lot of weight when I have
some types fo foods I can't resist in the house. I don't pay too much attention to the BMI personally, since I
do so much sports I must have more muscles then someone who sits around all day and never exercises ... ;-)_



Thank you Renee, you rock n' roll, girl. Always good to have supportive people commenting. yes.
It's certainly a long term process. I really think it was easier to lose 90 pounds than to maintain though ... not sure
why, that seems crazy ! I recorded a program on Tv the other night : "How I lost 100 pounds" ... it was on TLC I think,
I haven't watched it yet ... usually I don't like watching shows about dieting when I am struggling but in the past few days
things have been going very well so I've watched a few of those ... plus it makes me see that I'm crazy to whine about gaining 20 pounds back when you see people on those shows who are 100 pounds or more overweight and having a really hard time just going up a few stairs, oh well !



Lil' Berry, fine to read your comments too ... I think it really saves me that I am working out a lot though ... I saw that in the middle of september when I didn't work out at all about 8-9 days in a row (see in my other message, the daily check in update
I'll send in a few moments ...) I started gaining weight right away ... I have to be good and exercise, keeps me motivated ...
Hum, nice .. you have muscles .. I certainly like muscular/fit girls !! Nothing wrong with a lil' bit of flab as well over the muscles, hehe. I like that better than skinny thin anyway. I'll try to post more regularly.


Marc

SW : 210 Sept. 1st, 2012.
GW : 200, by Dec. 1st 2012.
CW : 208, Oct. 1st 2012.

[bluebunny27]

Hi there ! Ok, I am back to update my check in, finally (!) ... and write a recap for the month of september ... First, the stats, it was a so-so month but in general, I was rather happy despite ups and downs, at least it ended very well. Most of the downs were in the middle part of the month, if I had been good there i would have lost 5 pounds this month easily.

I started the month at 210 and ended it at 208, so a 2 pound loss, not fantastic, but it's alright, I'll do better next time ... the funny thing is I wasn't even weighing in for a week straight before today thinking it would be a lousy result so I was actually pretty happy to see "208" on the scale this morning ... I ended the month quite well too with 4-5 good days in a row so now I feel confident I can lose another 4 pounds
in october if I apply myself. My usual problem is the up and down, I am good for 5 days in a row and then I have 2 bad days
and gain back whatever I had lost the 5 previous days, still working on that trying various things ... the main thing is the booze while watching NFL games and also pizza of course, the 2 go together.

September, big change lately with the booze situation : I have been cutting down on booze since the past 2 weeks and it seems to help, it's not the calories in the alcohol that can cause problems for me, it's the excessive eating ... that occurs sometimes when I am having too much of a good time.

For example I would have 5 beers during an evening watching football with friends and then I would have salt cravings and eat almost a whole pizza by myself ... so i cut down to 3 beers instead and i can handle it much better, I am able to resit the temptations better when I cut down the alcohol by almost half ...

I am still tempted by the pizza of course but since i haven't had that much alcohol,
I am able to handle it more easily. When you have a lot of alcohol, you don't really care about your diet, it makes you lose your self control ... since I have cut down by almost half I haven't had those problems.

I know in every diet book they say cut down the alcohol entirely but I lost 90 pounds within a year and I was still having a good time 4-5 times per month at least watching sports, moftly football, my favorite, hockey during the winter season. It's really alright
as long as I don't binge eat after having had those few beers or wine glasses ... when I don't binge eat watching sports I am losing weight even if I have some alcohol, I just have to be more reasonable so I cut down from 5 to 3.

2nd thing is I know I have a really hard time resisting certain foods so I am trying to ban buying excessive amounts of those foods ... I have trouble with cereals, salty crackers, cookies, peanut butter ... I'm not even talking about the usual suspects, chips, ice cream, cakes, donuts and whatnot because I don't even buy those at all but once in a while I see a good deal on crackers or cereals for example so I buy 4-5 boxes and keep them in the pantry thinking they should last a couple of months but of course that doesn't work and 2 weeks later all 4-5 boxes are gone and I have gained weight again, thinking, why did I do that ? It's stupid ... so I won't buy more than 1 box at a time of those items I have trouble resisting ... seems to help me right now, when the food is not available, I am not going through the trouble of going to the store and buying it, then coming back ...

September, exercise ... I was actually lazy during the middle of the month, I didn't exercise 9 days in a row, rare for me, happens once every 6 months. (I had the flu a few of those days but it was only for 4 days, not 9 !) The beginning and the ending of the month, I was spot on though, exercising 5-6 times per week. Also I was thinking maybe I was exercising too much actually,making me more hungry in the end ... during the month there was a study done somewhere revealing it's better not to train for more than 30 min. per day or else you get too hungry and the extra calories actually slow you down compared to only working out 30 min. and not overeating as much.

Plus I do high intensity stuff, interval training and whatnot where I am pushing myself as hard as I possibly can ... so even my 30 min. is probably worth an hour or more for someone who is not exercising with that intensity .... anyway. I try that at the moment too, no more than 28-32 min. very intense 5 times per week at least and I'll try not to go 9 days without working out as well (!) ... better to do a lil' bit, even 10 minutes, than nothing.

study here : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/08/2 ... as-1-hour/

I am forced to move my work outs indoors now too with the cold temperatures, so i'm back with the no equipment
work outs inside, calisthenics are back replacing cycling and sprinting ... I do my beloved jumping jacks, squat jumps, push ups, planks, etc. Squat jumps are really good to get your heart pumping as well, doing those more now especially with my shorter work outs ... I need high intensity stuff that will make me sweat bullets and exhausted in a shorter period of time. I need exercises that I will only be able to do for 28-32 minutes, no more so they have to be hard to do, not easy.

Squat jumps, warning, if you have not done those before, try to do them but not excessively at first or else
your legs (quads) will be sore for 2 days later on ... I always say that, but I am always exaggerating and end up sore for 2 days anyway, don't make the same mistake I always make, be smarter, lol ! ...

The day after doing too many fast hard squat jumps for the first time in a while I am walking like an old man, especially going down stairs, that's quite painful ... but your body get used to it and after a few times its really not that bad. Now after having done them a few times I am not that sore the next day.

Squat jumps aka "Frog leaps" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVaEhXotL7M

Those burn a lot of calories if you do them hard and fast and I was experimenting with them since last year when I wanted to find a no equipment exercise that would be good to get my heart rate way up, up in the 150's-160's even doing just 10 fast and jumping high too. Plus I always like an exercise you can do without having no equipment at all.

Ok, that's about it ... cya in a lil' while.

Marc

SW : 210 Sept. 1st, 2012.
GW : 200, by Dec. 1st 2012.
CW : 208, Oct. 1st 2012.

[bluebunny27]

Ok, quick update ... things have been going pretty well .. but not well enough
to reach my original new goal weight .. 200 by dec. 1st . I am still pleased though since lately I have been doing quite well.

Still maintaining and losing a lil' bit of weight too ... I should weigh around 205.0 on dec. 1st if all goes well, I weighed 207.0 yesterday morning the last time i stepped on the scale and lately i have been on track.
I think i can easily lose 2 pounds by the end of the month ...

Not bad, lost a few pounds ... maybe 5 since sept. 1st 2012 (if all goes well until dec. 1st.) ... , so there is hope ...

My goal is really not that far anyway, the main one is to go back under 200 and the most important part, not gaining weight back after that ... also trying not to binge eat too often, eating a whole bag of cookies within 30 minutes for example. That's more important than the number on the scale. If I avoid those problems my weight will go down anyway, the way that I am training.

I have been doing really well lately too .. exercising almost every day, very hard, for 25-30 minutes only but I think it's better to train really hard 25-30 minutes, sweating bullets, instead of an hour or more where you are hardly moving ...

i am always soaked in sweat
when i am done training anyway. The other day i was watching this show about weight loss and they showed people
who were training and trying to lose weight, what they were doing looked like a walk in the park to me ... gotta work harder than that to lsoe something ... so
it's worth your time and effort ... looked to me like they were hardly moving at all, slacking off, not putting in a real effort ... that doesn't work for me ... it has to be *HARD* to do to be worth my time.

The most important part for me is really the binge eating ... when i don't do it for a few days in a row i lose weight right away
due to my daily hard exercise sessions.

Marc

SW : 210.0 Sept. 1st, 2012
CW : 207.0 Nov. 23rd, 2012
EW : 205.0 Dec. 1st. 2012 (If all goes well !)
GW : 200.0 ??

[eschano]

Hi Marc,

Looks like you're doing really well. Just remember: Habit not the number on the scale is what counts.

What kind of exercise do you do? Sounds hardcore.