Well last night I wasn't feeling physically well. I was trembly and achy and nauseous. So I asked a neighbour for a lift to a meeting as I didn't think driving would be a bright idea.
On the way there I developed a headache, which turned into a light sensitive headache. Now of course, I spent the next hour and a half toggling between onset of a migraine and brain bleed (drama queen or what?).
On the way back I realised (light bulb moment) that I'd neglected some very basic health care. I'd had nothing to eat in 12 hours but a fried SPAM sandwich and pints of coffee. So I was low blood sugar and on a caffeine rush.
But deeper - why not eating. Well although I've been saying God want's me to be this shape - overweight, man boobs, bay window - I don't like it and in my simplistic way, I've been trying the eat less move more diet and made myself ill.
I got in last night and had a double portion of porridge (a quick and easy belly filler) and plenty of water and pondered on my friends suggestion.
So this morning I've decided that I will go to the local weight watchers club and do something about my weight.
I've re started walking with a purpose (about a mile and a half every day - it's a mile and a half further than I used to walk) and now I feel the need to sort out my diet and lose some of this excess weight.
My mind's image of my body is that I'm about 16 and a half stones (about 230lbs).
Reality is I have a 44" plus midriff, a 52" chest, (actually about a 52" D cup), no waist, belly resting on my thighs when I sit and I'm just under 6' tall. I can no longer fasten my favourite leather jacket, my riding suit is a 4 XL, I have a bad back most of which is aggravated and probably caused by years of bad posture and too much weight at the front. When I sleep on my back, the weight of my throat closes off my airway and I snore myself awake (sleep Apnoea). The doctor says my ongoing problems with PED is made worse by excessive weight, high bad cholesterol and low good cholesterol.
So now I want to make a change. When I go to my first WW meeting, apparantly I get weighed and measured and asked what weight I want to be. I reckon I might need to lose around 40 to 50lbs just to get to a comfortable size and I reckon this will take a year or two.
I'll let you know the ongoing tale of the tape.
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
Good move Bill. Congrats on taking proactive steps. When I quit drinking, I moved out on my own and lost my enabler for food as well. Hence, I dropped 50 pounds without trying and I did it in the way you described first. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I do function on a no food in stomach caffiene high most of the time and then I wonder why I feel funky and anxious. Sounds like insanity hrm? Proud of you for doing it the right way
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
Don't even worry about it!! I'd be more than happy to share my overactive thyroid with you so you can lose weight! Got to give it away to keep it! lol I've lost 20 lbs in about 3-4 months. Dr wants to do goiter surgery & there ain't no way!!! Actually I think eating more is a result of drinking less. I've heard other alcoholics talk of weight gain after they quit drinking. Good luck!!
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God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Rheinhold Niebuhr
Bill, sliming world is a much better diet than WW. You'll be amazed at what you can actually eat, and since you enjoy cooking, you can create lovely meals for the family. I have got all the books and quite a few recipe books if you wanna look at them. R U at meeting 2mrw? If so I will bring a couple of recipe books, it's all about food optimising, not dieting, and you can still eat full english breakfast AND chips.
The secret about losing weight is not starving yourself, but learning how to cook differently. For starters, you will need a bottle of spraylits oil spray for frying in. Giz a bell if you want the books.
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Serenity is Wanting what you have, not having what you want
Always remember non-alcoholic beers are for NON-ALCOHOLICS
Thats sounds like a great plan, my little opinion is that the WW would offer the support of others, just like AA.
And last night sounded like sort of a "gotta do something" bottom. Great starting point.
Last year, almost a full year ago, I was so tired of the empty stomach, buzzing on caffiene all day, that I switched in one week, bought myself a little one cup coffee Press, love it so much, wash it out after using, never have to buy filters, or do the coffee pot cleaning either, and I allow myself only ONE really strong cup of coffee, like a strong capochino every morning, and I did not ever go through any withdrawals, and was so happy too, to toss the coffee pot in the garbage. OK, a lot of words just to say, that if I had a pot of coffee in my kitchen I would just drink it, but because I don't, I won't.
I wish you the best in your new life changing plan.
Funny, when you were responding in my other Post, and talking about how things are over there, it sounded like you were writing about over here. Same identical stuff. With the wars going on endlessly, seems like for every single veteran that comes home with PTSD, without treatment, in a while, here comes another probable untreated homeless alcoholic....
Well the sun is not out here, but I share your view, still love my country, and happy to be living here as a free citizen of the United States......
Good luck Bill, I have had a few friends actually also have success with Overeaters Anonymous, amazing actually, a 20 year friend visited me recently and I literally didn't even recognize him, but this total stud with all this charisma walks in holding this baby right? I'm looking at him spacing out and he's smiling at me and greeting me and I have no idea why he's grinning like a fool and talking to me and wondering why all the wierdos always talk to me when I recognized him, guy was handsome as hell, he had changed his hairstyle too and grown some little flavor saver beard thingy.
Was amazing I literally didn't even recognize him, we've known each other since our early 20's and we are in our mid forties now.
My father actually just lost 60 pounds, making me weigh more then him for the first time in my life, so I may just have to join you in your walks...../sigh
Anyway, I'm right there with you, I get the exercise, since I climb trees for a living, but may i need to revisit the whole double cheeseburger super burrito pint of chunky monkey for dinner concept
Funny, I'm a fan of s**t my dad says on Facebook, this was his update yesterday, was uncannily similar to what my dad told me when I asked him how he lost all that weight:
"I lost 20 pounds...How? I drank bear piss and took up fencing. How the f*** you think, son? I exercised."
-- Edited by AGO on Sunday 7th of March 2010 10:27:43 AM
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Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a night, light a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
now Avril, I've been in your kitchen and seen what you cook and how. Were it not for your JC and my Eileen, I'd be pursuing you just for the fantastic meals.
Anyway, I've been asked to go to WW with another member so I will give that a go first. Plus if it's what I think it is, then maybe I can combine hte WW system with the Slimmingworld recipes.
The only stuff I fry are eggs and bacon - everything else is oven or grill. I know part of what does me in - the damn biscuits at the meetings, the chocolate and the BK XL double bacon cheeseburger (once a month though) and my reliance on cheese and cream for my cooking. and the nuts. and the cakes. and the ice cream. and the comfort eating. and the pizzas. and the lack of exercise. and the way too big portions. and the tendency to eat as fast as I can so I can finish the XXL portion before I feel full. and Eileen's Lasagne. and the curries. and my meatballs and pasta. and pasta bakes. and my tagliatelli carbornara.
Still, tonight I had a diced chicken breast, marinated in tomato puree and spices, skerwered with green peppers and mushrooms and grilled, served on a bed of couscous with peas.Then maybe spoiled it with treacle sponge pudding and custard and cheese and biscuits.
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
yeah Toni - I got rid of the coffee machine, the one that makes two pints at a time. Now I've just got a one mug cafetiere, the expresso machine in the office, the Italian half pint stove top percolator and the turkish expresso percolator.
Seriously though, I limit myself to two coffees before 11 a.m. usually. After that it's mug after mug of Ringtons Northern Choice tea, loose leaf made in the 1 litre cafetiere so I can easily control the strength. and decaff instant coffee, which is sh1te.
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
OH, I dunt eat it Bill, I did a few months ago, and lost a stone in 4 weeks, but then I went back to the usual junk food. I sometimes do a SW recipe though, and you can eat chips too.
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Serenity is Wanting what you have, not having what you want
Always remember non-alcoholic beers are for NON-ALCOHOLICS
What a great thread...my hunger is gone. I also feel like I'm about ready to pass a stone myself. Good luck Bill I wish you weight loss to your liking and you can email me the pages out of Avril's cook book. God after reading this I don't think I've ever really ate good. I'll keep coming back to see how you're getting on or off as the case may be...LOL.
I love food, and I love cooking too, and I share what Jerry just wrote, you are her bud, so maybe you could ask her for some of those pages in her cookbooks, as i sit here drooling......
Like the last item you wrote about the sponge pudding with the custard and the Biscuit.....
Holly cow, if you love that food, NO wonder you might have to be watching your weight.....No one could resist that....
Just had a thought, how about a Thread, with everyone sharing some of their favorite recipes, I have a lot of them too.
So toodles, and laughed by butt off when you wrote about the large portions, eating them fast so you would not feel full until after the sweets that follow, I can so relate, not to the oversized portions, but to me, I only reallly think about what comes after the dinner. sweets, yum yum.
Heard a funny line in a movie I watch last night, "Question, what are the three main ingredients to all gourment french cousine, along with many other cultures' fine cousine, and the Answer: the three are, 1, butter, 2 butter, and 3 butter!"
Wish I could help out, I am now about 20 lbs, UNDERWEIGHT and have to say it really annoys the heck out of me that there are no popular diets for people that want to GAIN weight......
But for sure, that question above was right on the money, butter, butter, and then yep, more butter. The finest food item in the whole wide world in my opinion..... So happy research and development in this new field you are entering....keep us informed.
Tonicakes, well that did not help one bit....:)
-- Edited by Just Toni on Sunday 7th of March 2010 08:08:45 PM
I am undergoing a great diet that has cut my caloric intake in half. I can't afford a dentist and I have a busted molar on each side.
No crunchy, seedy or whole-meat anything.
My intake consists of oranges, bananas, yogurt, melon, soup and anything else that I can either blend into a yogurt smoothie or pulverized satisfactorily with my incisors and canine teeth. When the rivers go down again I'll add poached trout to the diet.
The dental estimate for capping is about $1500 and pulling is about $500; neither of which is do-able. My most cost-effective option is to eat carefully and slowly and keep my busted molars meticulously clean.
GOOD: I'm gonna lose weight, no doubt about it, because I'm not a big fan of pain. Bad: I have two incredible grass-fed sirloins in my freezer that I can't have.
The countdown begins. It's like getting loaded before going to detox. Yesterday was a good start, wholewheat cereal, semi skimmed milk, black coffee for breakfast, tuna and sweetcorn on wholemeal sub for lunch, then BK XL Double Bacon Cheeseburger, fries and coffee for dinner, followed by sponge cake at the meeting!
Today it's been wholewheat cereal etc so far. I'll go for a pasta salad at lunch, but I know it's a curry tonight, poppadums, pickle tray, bedsheet sized Nan, Chicken Dopiaza, Pilau rice, mango lassee and kulfi. (restaurant job)
Tomorrow morning will be a full monty in the hotel at 7 a.m. then a salad or a sandwich for lunch and a home made curry for dinner.
Thursday - back to the wholewheat cereal, the wholewheat sandwich or salad, then the WW meeting.
The freezer is stocked with meat and fish, the fridge groans with cheese, the cupboards are full of canned vegetables and pasta and couscous and rice (I shop once a month). Typical alkie behaviour, I get twitchy if I don't have enough food to last a month long famine. Thankfully I have a reservoir of tap water! When I moved to this house, my buddies were in fits at the fact that I had 2 cubic metres of food - including 20 kilos of coffee! And I live on my own. Some sort of obsessional behaviour going on here.
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
I like the book Eating Right to Live Sober, which has explanations plus recipies. I've lost 50 lbs. through a combination of Weight Watchers, new/more excercise, going vegetarian, and getting rid of (this was hard and took a long time) mayonaise, butter, cream, cheese, all processsed, refined carbohydrates, sugar, and starchy vegetables like white potatoes. I also avoid all food additives and just steam or nuke my vegetables so they are not over-cooked, unless I am roasting them. It took a while to become accustomed to, and then to enjoy, the healthier foods and eating patterns. I had to be willing to go to any lengths, and had to make serious changes in my lifestyle, including who I dared go out to dinner with (in the beginning, when I easily fell into temptation). I also do rigorous portion control and drink about 2+ quarts of water daily. And 2-3 cups of whatever plain coffee I choose, with my only "exception", lite non-dairy creamer! Now I'm on a "plateau", which means I need to actually eat a little more and excercise more to get jump-started. If I eat too little I don't lose...I either get sick with blood sugar problems or my body goes into starvation mode and I lose muscle,a nd get tired, but hang onto the fat.
Mental Self Image is 235 lbs, 6 foot tall, 38" waist and 44 " chest.
Eyeball self image is 270lbs, 44" belly, 52" D cup chest.
Reality is...............246lbs (hoorah - a bit less than I thought, but still a lot more than I want it to be), 47" hips and chest and 50" belly. If anyone knows the WW points system, I'm on 30 points and have started a food diary. It's now 11:40 p.m. and I've done 29.5 points, so that 0.5 points to carry over to tomorrow.
Target weight is 232lbs. (for starters)
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
Hey Bill good move. WW is a great program. A couple things. Drink a ton of water. a liter every hour or so, or every time you return from the restroom. Cut out salt and salty foods. Spam is loaded with salt and a lot of the weight that you're carrying is water weight that you'll shed quickly when you cut out salt and drink lots of water as your body will stop hording water. Cut out starches (breads, potatoes, pasta...) The worst meal is a big plate of spagetti and a bunch of bread (250 grams of carbs.). Replace these carbs with complex carbs like oatmeal for breakfest. Don't eat diner any later than 7 pm, and avoid beef and pork. Eat lean fish and chicken, 6-8 oz. and a serving a vegatables, again no breads, potatoes, or pasta, just a some baked or grilled fish or chicken and vegatables. Make you meals regular 7am, 12noon, 7pm. eat fruit for snacks and leave the coffee and sodas alone during the day and evening. Soda are loaded with sodium (salt). I'm 11 weeks without coffee and sodas now. Feeling good. I got off the caffeine because it raises your cholesterol. It causes your liver to produce bad cholesterol to eliminate the caffeine, which is a toxin. One other thing that I found interesting is that when we eat sugar it trigger an over eating response. This happens with carbs as well. I love french fries doused in ketchup (potatoes dipped in high fructose corn syrup). Chips and salsa are another one of my down falls. You should be able to shed about 3 pounds a week. I lost about 20 lbs. last year (185 down to 165). Trying to stay below 170 for the next 10 years then I'm going to try and get into the 150's. Good luck we'll be rooting for you.
and decaff instant coffee, which is sh1te.