Day 1...Again.

Let's just get this out of the way. Daily weights to be posted. Ugh.

2-28-13
316.2

Time to go Back to the Basics

Been a long time since I've posted here, huh? I won't bore you with the details, but I'll just say that I've kept my yo-yo dieting streak intact, much to my dismay. I do great, get lazy, gain weight, start over...

Consider this the latest "start over" phase.

Last May I dropped to 278.6. Tomorrow, I assume I'm going to weight right about 315. Yeah, 315. And I'm ashamed to post that publicly. But I also know that putting my struggles and wins out there was a huge motivation for me when I went from 366 to 270. So, I'm back, feeling sick about who I've let myself become again.

Let's see what I can do this time around.

FYI

Operation: San Juan.

Follow along?

How My Weight Loss Looks

First, please feel free to join my Facebook page HERE.

Now, here's how things have looked for me over the last two months, or so:

July 2011: Weighed in as high as 316.2
August 2011: Tried to recover, ended up hovering around 309
September 2011: Not much change. Lost a pound or two through zero effort
October 1, 2011: Weighed 307.2. Rebooted my weight loss
October 22, 2011: Weighed 296.6. My lowest in well over a year

It really has been a great October. It's all about my food intake. I haven't had more than 2-3 cheat meals in three weeks. I've re-inserted whole grains, and removed simple carbs. I stop eating at 8pm, unless I'm working until 10. A little dairy, but not much. Snacks are now 1/2 a PB sandwich, or a snack pack of jerky, and not candy bars or a donut. I've had a lot of water, too.

I don't want to say it's been simple, but I will say that it hasn't been much work. Next goal is 289.8.

I'm already wearing a pair of my 38 jeans, again. It feels good...

Funkiness

Just a quick update for any who may read the blog.

I've been eating clean(er), and getting more active, yet my weight has been pretty stagnant. I was briefly at 303.6, then I jumped to 309, then I got back to 303, and today I sit at 305.6.

It makes very little sense to me, but I know there are a couple of reasons for it. The main one is that I'm still not putting in 100% effort on all of this. I'm doing better, but not good enough. Secondly, now that I'm in my mid-30's, this doesn't come as easy. I used to be able to put in 70% effort and still lose some weight, but that's not the case, anymore.

So, we find ourselves back at this question: How badly do I want it? I know I can drop another 20-30 pounds with relative ease, but it's just a matter of DOING it.

Thanks for reading...

The Right Way

Short and sweet today.

At 304.6, this is the lowest weight I've been without the aid of a fad diet. This is just eating better, getting even slightly more active, and not stressing or obsessing.

We're going to try to go camping this weekend, and my goal is to eat well (Zone bars, grilled chicken, nuts, wheat bread, etc) all weekend, then hike, toss a ball or frisbee - just generally be active.

Who knows? Maybe I'll come back at 299 Tuesday morning.

Yup. No Magic Pill.

Well, I decided to stop my "fad" carnivore diet. Why? Well, I ate a normal meal a couple of days ago - with a normal amount of carbs - and you'll never guess what happened.

Oh. You CAN guess what happened? Almost six pounds came storming back? Yeah?

Yeah.

One meal, 5.4 pounds back on. That took me from 302.2 to 307.6 overnight. Since then, I've gone back to the basics - smaller amounts of better foods, including complex carbs. I'm hovering back at 306, which I'm not thrilled with, but it's better than seeing a 314+ like I saw two weeks ago.

So, here's the general idea of what I'm planning to eat:

Lean meats.
Whole grains.
Fruits.
Veggies.
Low-fat cheeses.
Almonds, and healthy nuts.
Beans.
Low-fat milk.
Eggs.

I got the list straight from the Men's Health Abs Diet plan. I followed it near-perfectly when I dropped 96, so I'm going to go back to it, now. Go with what you know works, right?

On the activity front, I still haven't done a thing. I've been fighting off a cough for almost two weeks, and it's been kicking my butt. Still, I'm hoping to spend a lot of time this weekend getting outside and moving. Hikes, frisbee, tossing a football...I'll take any of it at this point.

Later, all...

Coming Out of Retirement

Yeah...again.

So, a very brief update. I was recently as high as 316 pounds. Seeing that number was a slap of reality across my face. Even so, it took some time to get moving. Last week, I started a modified caveman diet - eating only what I could kill or grow - including potatoes and rice - and allowing myself to have salad dressing, ketchup, etc.

I quickly went from 314.4 to 302.2, and I was ecstatic. But then I added some more carbs to my diet for a day, and - POOF - I'm back up 3 pounds.

As I vented about it on Facebook, it was the comment of an MMA fighter whom I've never met, but had watched fight for years, that sunk in.

"Don't diet. Eat and live healthy."

Is it that easy? Really? It can't be. There has to be a catch, or a fad, or a miracle. Right?

And then I started thinking about the CRAZY diet I was on four years ago when I dropped 96 pounds:

I went from simple carbs to complex, whole grain carbs. I cut back on the sugary crap food. I still had cheat meals. I got more active.

No pills. No trainers. No fads.

I was just eating and living healthy.

And that's why I came back to this blog. This is where it all happened. It wasn't always easy, by any stretch of the imagination. But reading over these posts makes me realize that it's still possible to get where I need to go.

This morning I am a 6' 8", 305.4-pound guy who wants more form his life. And being healthy and fit is going to be step one in getting it.

For Those Who Still Want to Follow...

I am now journaling my journey at my personal site:

www.kevinantcliff.com

Becky is also back, as are Rob, Rip, Kristen, Melissa, Carrie...and a bunch of others. And we're on Facebook. Just search for "New FAT Coalition."

Hope to see you there.

No Looking Back

Alright, so just finished vacation with some friends, and we did not even try to worry about our weights this week. Should have, but didn't.

So, tomorrow's weigh-in will likely be NASTY - I'm thinking 306-ish. But Beck and I are pretty fired up, and we're hitting this HARD in the morning. We allowed ourselves to take a week off, now we just need to get back into the fitness mindset.

So away we go!

Really, really quick update...

Weighed 299.0 today. Been doing well.

See? Told ya it was quick.

Later!

My Jacked-Up Body

That pic pretty much describes my weight loss to a T. I was back down to my low-mark, 303.0 this morning.

Here's what I've learned over the last 96 hours:

- Screw lame diets. The low-carb thing worked for 48 hours, but my body doesn't like it.

- Normal eating is key. Yesterday I did nothing special, just kept it clean and ate something every few hours.

- Gotta be active. Again, nothing special, but went out and tossed the football in the heat, just to do SOMETHING.

- I'm a very impatient person. I still don't get why my body added weight those four days, but I know better than to panic like that.

So, tonight is a cheat meal day - our first in over a week. We're having pizza, and I'm having three pieces. That's it. I would very much like to be at 299 early next week. I'm sick of seeing a 3 on that scale every day. Driving me nuts.

Have a great weekend...

Read the post below this one, too

Week One Summary

Starting Weight: 310
Ending Weight: 305.2

Total Lost: 4.8

It looks good on paper, but the frustration is that I was at 7 pounds lost four days ago, and I put in 2.2 pounds over those four days. It's frustrating as crap, as outlined in the post below this one...

Up, Up, and Away

I need to step away from all of this for a while. I have some intense personal stress right now, and that may be contributing to this, but I also can't stand to keep seeing this scale go up for no reason. I'm up another 1.2 pounds today.

Not going to say I ate perfectly yesterday, but I didn't go much above my calories, and most of what I ate was salad. Nothing in my diet yesterday should have resulted in bouncing that high.

I'm beginning to think that I just can't lose this weight this time. I dropped 96 before, and it was almost easy, but I was four years younger. Now, I've spent the last two years not being able to break back into the 200's for more than a couple days - especially in the last 12 months. I get to about 302, and that's as far as I go - my body just stops losing, no matter what.

But I have too much going on right now to be able to handle seeing that scale go up every morning. For anybody wondering why I weigh every morning: http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/006851.html

I really don't know what's next. I have zero motivation to keep working only to see no results, but I also hate being who I am right now. If I could afford a trainer, or some Muay Thai lessons to whip myself into shape, I'd be all over it. But it's just me, my diet, and my basement, and that's not enough, it seems.

I just don't know...

BREAKTHROUGH!!!!

I dropped back down by 0.2 pounds!!!! That's right!! ZERO-POINT-TWO pounds.

Screw this.

Stupid

Right. So, another day of clean eating, a 4+ mile bike ride, tons of water...

...up another .8 pounds.

I've now gained 1.2 pounds the last two days.

A little too ticked off to blog right now. 

A Kick in the Gut

OK, so it's only 6:30, so a lot could change in the next 90 minutes. But, as of right now, I am 1.2 pounds up from yesterday. I still had fewer than 30g of carbs, I went on a 1.9 mile ride, and a casual .75 mile ride with the family later. I forgot to do my 100 push ups, but I did get in 30. I also had fewer than 1,700 calories (which might be the problem, actually).

All of that, and I ADD over a pound to my weight?

Man, do I hope that weight doesn't hold. Ick.

***EDIT***
Not AS bad. I leveled off at 304.4 this morning. So, still up, but nothing panic-worthy. I'll stay clean, stay active, and see what tomorrow brings.

Quick Sunday Update

Started sliding the carbs back in yesterday. Went to a salad bar, and had a cup of pasta salad with egg noodles, so not the healthiest stuff. Still, kept it around 50g of carbs for the day, which I can deal with.

Weight this morning was down another 1.4 pounds. Not sure if the slow in dropping is from the carbs, or from eating too little, as I only had about 1,500 calories yesterday.

Still, I sit here at 303 pounds, lowest I've been in a long time by .8 pounds.

This morning I went for a quick 2-mile bike ride, and I'm going to do 100 push-ups through the day - 30 down, so far.

Hoping to get these 300's behind me very soon.

**ALSO** Congrats to Beck for dropping back under 200 officially for the first time in a long time! Check her blog out on my sidebar, "One More Round."

Perfection

Well, my goal with the whole no-carb thing was to get back to where I was a few days ago when I let myself go and piled on some quick poundage.

Mission: Accomplished.

I was 303.8 about five days ago, then I topped off as high as 311.6. On Thursday morning I was an even 310, and today, after two carbless days, I'm back to 304.4. Exactly what I planned.

So today, I'm going to gradually re-introduce healthy carbs. I found a site last night that said if you're eating about 2,000 calories a day, you should be taking in around 250 grams of carbs. I've done less than 10g the last two days, so I'll up it to maybe 40-50 today, then 75 or so tomorrow, and so on, until I'm up to my 250.

The long-term goal here is to drop to 295 by July 31, the day on my foundation's big event. I needed to lose 15 on Thursday, and today I'm 9.4 away. Not a bad jump-start.

Have a great weekend!

The No-Carb Re-Boot

So, day one of going carbless was a success. Was a little hungry last night, but fought through it, and didn't give in.

I dropped 2.2 pounds yesterday. Yes, I know it's mostly water weight and excess carbs, but that's all I want to do, really. I ate HORRIBLY early this week, so I want my body to level off to where it should have been, had I not eaten like total crap those days.

While I assume I'll drop another couple pounds tomorrow, and the temptation to keep this diet going full-time could be strong, I already see how going no-carb is really unhealthy - at least for me.

I ate 500 calories of eggs, bacon, and cheddar today for breakfast. No carbs, but I just feel greasy. For lunch, it'll be cheddar wrapped in bacon, wrapped in lean roast beef, then microwaved for a few seconds to make it all gooey and awesome. Sounds great, but also gross at the same time. Dinner will be a grilled chicken breast with lemon pepper, and a salad with an oil-based dressing, and a little shredded cheese. Snacks through the day will be cheese sticks.

I mean, I just don't think I could do that long-term. I need some whole grains. I need a little BBQ sauce. I need miracle whip on my bread.

So, the plan, as it's always been, is to gradually re-introduce carbs tomorrow morning. Only good carbs, of course - whole wheat bread, brown rice, etc. We'll see how it plays out.

Just hoping this is a nice 2-day jump start to getting me back on track.