Pound by Pound

[Pumba's Truth]

Hey all -- I've been on here a while back, but that's not the story to tell today.

I've been giving a lot of thought to making healthy choices again and wanted a place to share, vent frustration, seek guidance and support, as well as just get it out of my system.

Some how I feel that if I share my story I may feel that I am more accountable to acting on what it is I want to accomplish.

We all have stress in our lives and it's all relative to the individual so I may share my stories with you from time to time but by no means am I looking for sympathy. More to the point, I just want to provide some perspective on where I'm coming from.

So here we go.....

My situation is this: I am a father of two boys (DS7Mos and DS12), I have a loving wife and very supportive family. So why have I gained about 30lbs in the last while?

Well ... it's all about stress, yeah this is one of those times I'll share a story, after all it's the beginning right? Every story has to have a beginning!

I'm what you call your basic "Steady State" personality, I deal alright with minor changes on a day to day basis. I can even handle some of the big ones when I've actually planned and prepped for them, but .... when a big change happens in my life, that you really can't prepare fully for, I seem to fall into a bit of a depression. Heck who am I kidding, it is a depression, or rather it was after my DS7mos was born. Really weird I know, here is this beautiful baby boy who makes you smile and laugh, and cry, but you're depressed .. hmmm doesn't make much sense but that's what happened.

Since acknowledging it I've talked to a counselor and close friends and family, and now all of you! Guess what, that's been the most theraputic, just seeing that people don't judge, aren't critical, don't think you're less of a person, and all in all just want to help you move forward any way they can.

Ok now that part is out there, from a weight and healthy eating perspective. Depression leads to eating poorly, eating poorly leads to weight gain, weight gain leads to depression, depression leads to .... I think you get the point.

Now, I've made a comittment to not let my mood at the beginning of the day dictate how I am going to behave the rest of the day... those that have dealt with depression know that you sometimes have "good" days and "bad" days, and you can usually tell as soon as you wake up. In fact there were days that I would wake up just ANGRY at everything, without any real reason. It sucks!!!!!!! So... I say

NO MORE!!!!

(Cont'd next post incase I time out)

 

[Pumba's Truth]

My commitment has a couple of thoughts behind it:

1. Family is growing, I want to be able to play around with my kids as they get older, heck I want to be here when they get older!
2. Personally I just want to feel less tired, I want that pep in my step, more confidence to be the guy I know I am
3. This one's kind of tough: "I DESERVE IT!" not in the sense of entitlement, but in the sense that I think everyone deserves to be healthy. You just have to work at it! (For a long time I didn't think I deserved to be happy/sucessful/loved, and some days those thoughts creep back, but I'm comitting to this list)
4. Kind of selfish here, but I have a competition going on with a few friends with a target date of December 15, 2012! Kind of a BL style, most % weight loss (we'll keep it in a healthy zone). LOL

I'm not certain how often I'll post or update my weight. In the past I've done two official weigh-ins a week (M and Th). This time I think I'll back that up to just one, we'll make it Fridays, as that is the day I'm starting this post.

My Methods:

1. Choose to eat the healthy choices more often. Really a simple concept, but as some of you may know "Simple ain't always Easy!"
2. Work towards a 5K. Then maybe more. We'll see, I may even sign up for a Disney race one of these days.
3. I have a gym membership, I am going to commit to going a minimum of 3x a week.
4. My in-laws have a new home gym system. I am committing to doing a 20-30 Min work out every time we visit. (They live 15 min away, with a new grandson we visit often)
5. Use FitDay to track intake and output. This in conjunction with a couple of Excel based trackers I will keep an eye on what's going on
6. Accept what happens! I know that it wont come off quite as fast as it has in the past. That's ok, I'll take what I can get and move forward!
7. Allow myself some indulgence. Cheat meal not a cheat day or cheat week LOL. Nor can that Cheat meal comprise more than 30% of my daily caloric intake
8. Determine a High/Low level for each of intake and output, try to stay with in those parameters 5 out of 7 days.
9. BE HONEST! There's no point in pursuing this if I Lie to anyone including myself.

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Mood: Foul when I first woke up. The cat decided that I hadn't gotten up early enough to feed her. I guess twas my own doing, she's usually fed by 5:30 or so and it was pretty close to 6:00.

But, guess what?!?!?

My mood is now better, I've decided to share some information with the whole WISH world!!! Some how I feel better about making a public comittment to embark on a lifetime of being healthier. "Pound by Pound"

Food:AM foods only as it still not even 10am yet. Two bananas, greek yogurt, and two little squares my wife made (peanutbutter/jam thingy-ma-bobs). Not the healthiest but tis good.

Habbit/Focus issueiet Pepsi. Well I've just started so I will cut myself some slack here. I have two bottles of Diet Pepsi sitting at work, I have started drinking one of them, and will probably drink both today. I ahve no pop at home right now and I think I'll try to keep it that way. It's more a habit thing.

Ideaosting information on DISboards WISH section will help me. CHECK

Another idea I have is to put up a countdown tear-a-way so I can see the numbers roll down. Will have to create that today/tonight!


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So we're off, and as per usual I will probably post more in the first few days than the next month or so, but no worries, I'll keep y'all updated!!

 

[figment814]

Mood: Foul when I first woke up. The cat decided that I hadn't gotten up early enough to feed her. I guess twas my own doing, she's usually fed by 5:30 or so and it was pretty close to 6:00.

But, guess what?!?!?

My mood is now better, I've decided to share some information with the whole WISH world!!! Some how I feel better about making a public comittment to embark on a lifetime of being healthier. "Pound by Pound"

Food:AM foods only as it still not even 10am yet. Two bananas, greek yogurt, and two little squares my wife made (peanutbutter/jam thingy-ma-bobs). Not the healthiest but tis good.

Habbit/Focus issueiet Pepsi. Well I've just started so I will cut myself some slack here. I have two bottles of Diet Pepsi sitting at work, I have started drinking one of them, and will probably drink both today. I ahve no pop at home right now and I think I'll try to keep it that way. It's more a habit thing.

Ideaosting information on DISboards WISH section will help me. CHECK

Another idea I have is to put up a countdown tear-a-way so I can see the numbers roll down. Will have to create that today/tonight!


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So we're off, and as per usual I will probably post more in the first few days than the next month or so, but no worries, I'll keep y'all updated!!

1. I just started my journal today as well!
2. I have diet pepsi issue too! This will be one of my hardest things to give up, but I would like to as I hate all the artificial sweetener I'm putting in my body...but it tastes so good!

Best of luck!

 

[Pumba's Truth]

"Pound by Pound" - Item #1

During this journal every once in a while I will put up a note about a small change that either I have done or that I have seen done that can amount to weight loss and being healthier. It's all about taking things a bit at a time, and every little bit helps!!

So on to the first one .....

Stairs vs Elevator

Well we all think about this one from time to time, and depending on where you work/live it may be a non issue or seem a bit daunting.

I work on the 3rd floor of a building, actually the 2 as they count G as 1, why do they do that? Makes no sense!

Anyways .... after quick calculations I figured I would spend about 2 min waiting and riding an elevator vs the same amount of time going up/down stairs. Not long at all really, possibly even less time but we'll use 2 min.

So for 2 min the "elevator way" I burn 4 "BMR" calories - BMR=the calories I burn just by "being".

Taking the stairs gives me about 22 calories burn.

Let's look at this over the course of a year:

Start with the difference in calories 22 - 4 = 18/trip

Figure up/down 4 times a day (arrival, 2 breaks, lunch)
Figure go to work about 235 days a year (Takes in to account vacation/holidays/weekends/sick days etc)

So that is a total of 940 trips @ 18 calories per trip = 16,920 calories

3,500 calories = 1lb so it amounts to.......

4.8lbs/year with just a very simple adjustment.

SWEET!!!!!

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Well as some of y'all may know it was Thanksgiving up here yesterday.

Hmmm yeah about that....

Well it seems I wasn't able to focus as much as I would have liked over the weekend.

POP - my wife brought home a 12 pack of Diet Pepsi for me and another 2 cases of Coke Zero (her preffered). I hadn't told her as of yet my desire to cut back/out the Diet Pop and didn't have the heart to mention it to her at this point. I'll let her know before she goes to buy any more though.

I did good on Friday avoiding the chocolate bars that I normally go and grab from the quick shop at work. YAY me ... LOL

Saturday, I spent the day out on a golf course in the wind and rain in a rather chilly October day in Ottawa. And as luck would have it, I didn't have an umbrella or a jacket. I was a weee bit chilly shall we say. But was still outside and burning some calories.

On the golf course beer and burgers/dogs are usually consumed along with chocolate for me. I tempered most of that, had a diet pop, only 1 hotdog, a granola bar, and a coffee with Baileys .. c'mon folks it wassss cooooold!!

Dinner not too bad - 1 piece of roast beef and some roast poatoes .. unfortunately I had two brownies for desert ... All in All not a bad day.

Sunday - Waffles for breakfast, something light for lunch and home made wings for dinner w/rice.

Monday - Turkey Day. Light breakfast and lunch, and then the usual T-Day feast at dinner, I did restrict myself to one plate, but probably could have reduced the amount on it

Still all in all a good day .... until my wife's pumpkin chiffon pie with my homemade whipcream (vanilla/cinnamon). Ugh!!

I didn't hit the scale this morning but I'll be weighing in on Friday so I'll keep ya posted. It's going to come off .... Pound by Pound!

 

[Pumba's Truth]

So it's been a couple of days. Not a great couple of days but I'm trying. I managed to avoid buying chocolate while at work the last few days. Bonus!!!

However, last night I broke down and made homemade chocolate pudding instead. Ugh.

Still struggling with the diet pop. But, I haven't bought any since last Thursday. I've only been drinking the current supply. I've also increased my water intake to about 3 x 32oz a day. Means I go to the bathroom more frequently by heck I look at the walk to/from as accidental exercise. LOL

There is a weigh in tomorrow and i really don't think there will be much change this week as my planning and focus hasn't been on target. But we'll see.

Ttfn

 

[figment814]

Major family holidays can be tough but it sounds like upon did pretty well, if you look at is as a lifestyle change you will want to splurge a little on the holidays forever, so while its good to cut back there is no need to give it up completely!

Have you told your wife about the diet Pepsi yet?

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Nah .. haven't mentioned it yet.. I think I'm prolonging it because once I tell her she'll keep mentioning it to me everytime she sees me drink one of the pops in the house.

She is very well intentioned and only supports decisions that I have made for myself but it's still hard to hear.

Funny thing, last night she was taking our son over to her parent's place for a visit and asked if I wanted anything if she stopped (Tim Hortons/Starbucks). I responded with a "nope, thanks" the next question was pretty cool. She asked "Do you want me to stop asking you that?", I thought that was cool, so we agreed that she just wont ask me if I want anything anymore when she is just getting a snack. Although I may end up being a bit jealous/bitter about not getting a snack when she does, I have to remember I need to be healthy for myself and my family.

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Good morning, good morning.

Hmm I like that song even when things don't go exactly as planned.

So I've be negligent in updating on here but I will give y'all a quick update regarding weight. The goal is to drop about 2.67 lbs a week.

Currently I'm at 251.4. Down about 4.4 lbs in two weeks. Not quite to the level I would like but also not all that bad either.

Still moving in the right direction. Started back to the stationary bike and actually built up a good sweat. Thanks goes to my wife for strong arming me into working out. Gots to love her!!

Issues are still present with pop, although I am able to get through about half the week w/o any, and the days I do have some it's less than half of what i used to drink. Yay me!

LOL

Anywho. Ttfn

 

[figment814]

Just checking in to see how things are going! Hope all is well and that you are continuing down the healthy path!

 

[simonsayz]

Hiya Pumba! I see that you haven't replied back in a month, but hope things are doing well

if you are losing 2lbs a week and don't feel like it's enough. trust me that is a healthy way to lose the weight.

If you are still roaming around on the Disboards, hope you come back and give us all an update.