Just a little less than a year ago, I was a man with a plan and a goal. Starting at 323lbs, I wanted to get myself in shape, live healthier, and actually pull my life together. Over the course of 6 months, I succeeded in every aspect, losing 40lbs and getting down to 283lbs!! I was feeling good about my life and the direction I was going. Then the weight loss stopped coming. I hit a serious plateau, and with the holidays approaching, my diet and goals fell quickly by the wayside. Over the 6 months since, I’ve tried to get back on the wagon. Each time, I soon lost the will and the reasoning to keep going.

I had excuses – too busy to concentrate on the diet – I’m too stressed out to diet … I just didn’t care anymore. In recent weeks, I’d hit rock bottom and I knew it. I started eating at levels WELL beyond what I was doing before I even started the diet…. sometimes having what would easily qualify as 2 or 3 meals at a single sitting. In 6 months, I’ve gone from 283lbs ballooning up to my current weight: 302.5. That’s an almost 20lb gain – regaining nearly half the weight I lost the first time!

This lifestyle comes to an end TODAY! I’m officially relaunching the site. I’ll be posting daily updates to what’s going on and how I’m doing on the journey. I’ve also started a Twitter account specifically for the new journey – you can follow me at http://www.twitter.com/FatGuyonaDiet. There you’ll get a more up to date and recent look at the progress I’m making. It’s also where you’ll find me posting and discussing meals as I have them.

So join me, once again, as I begin my journey to lose the weight that’s held be back all these years!!

The last two weeks or so were crazy enough to do what I felt was the impossible, they knocked me off the wagon.  With being sick, all of the election preparations, and various other stress, I fell completely off the wagon and started going back to my old ways.   I didn’t get really bad until about a week ago, but I entered into what I’ve called “The Great Binge of 2008″.  Today, that’s over, and I’m 100% commited to getting back on the wagon and getting my life back in order.   There’s going to be several changes to the site that you will see over the next few weeks.  I’m currently working on a new design, and I’m looking to get that set up pretty soon.  I’m also going to work on beefing up the additional content for the site.  The major change is going to be the reorganization of the weeks.  Friday is now going to be “Weigh-In” day, as well as “Free Day”.   This will allow me to work hard to get to Friday for optimal loss, and not have just come off the weekend and doing my weigh-in.

So, to get this started, I wanted to get a measure of the damage I did over the last two weeks.  Sadly, the damage was immense, and weeks worth of progress was lost in a matter of days!  It’s truly amazing how much the body can begin to store when you don’t eat properly.  It’s really easy to yo-yo when you aren’t watching every single thing you eat!!  I did my weigh-in this morning, and I was at 289.6lbs!  That’s an increase of about 6lbs since my last weigh-in!  There was one diet reason I did this, though I’m starting to have doubts as to whether it will work or not.  I convinced myself that by taking an “off-week” it would allow my body to switch back into “garbage” mode, and once I start up the regiment again, things will pour off as though I’m just getting started again.  It could still work, though I’m not sure if there was enough damage done to cause that to happen.   We’ll see over the next week or so.

So, that’s about it for now… winter is now approaching, and it’s more important than ever for me to get out there and keep active.

I’ve fallen off the wagon, at least as far as posing and keeping the updates flowing is concerned.  No, I have not given up or gotten off the diet.  You shouldn’t think such nonsense.  I’m still going, and officially, I’m at 286lbs!!  That’s a 1.2 lb drop from last week, and overall, 37lbs since day 1!

Last week, I had something wrong with my leg, and that put a crimp on my cardio.  In the end, I just switched over to swimming, and overall, I think I’m getting MUCH better cardio in the pool since it’s really working my arms and legs at the same time.

Also, last week, I started to doubt the path that I’m on.  Since the end of the month is near, I’m starting to ponder changing the current gameplan and going in a different direction.   Too many stalled weeks is really driving me crazy… putting in a ton of effort and get 0 change, especially over the course of weeks, was really wearing on me.  One idea that I was considering was switching over to Atkins and seeing where that took me.  That would mean dropping out the carbs and going heavy on the protiens.

Then late last week, I was doing some reading and came across this article about the benefits of having yogurt when dieting.   A group of people were put on a reduced calorie diet and given three 6oz servings of yogurt each day.  Over the course of the study, the ones having yogurt lost 61% more fat overall, and 81% more fat around their waist than the ones that were not having yogurt.  It then hit me.. when the pounds were shedding off, I was having yogurt almost daily.  Once I switched to breakfast bars and other “non-yogurt” breakfast items, things started to plateau.   As of today, I’m going to work at least one cup of yogurt into my diet each day.. sometimes for breakfast, sometimes for a snack, others for a dessert after dinner.  If I see a noticeable change, I might step it up even more and have additional servings.   I’m anxious to see if this does help with the weightloss, and I’ll report in with my findings.

I broke it!  The official weigh in as of this morning is 287.2, a 2.8lb drop from last week!  That’s a pretty good return from the extra effort I put in, and I’m really hoping I can keep up that level for at least a month or two.  I really would like to get down to about the 260 level for Christmas.  So, in 16 weeks, I’ve dropped 35.8 lbs.  I’m proud of that, though I’m aiming to lose another 25 in just under 10 weeks.  That’s going to be a serious push, and I’ll have to work hard in order to make that goal.  That would put me at about 2.5lb/week.  I know I can do it, and I’m sure the extra push at the gym will get me the results I’m looking for.  Once I get to that goal weight, I’ll continue the push into the new year.   Keeping up that level of loss, I should be able to drop 70lbs before my birthday.  That would get me a bit short of my overall goal, but still to a very respectable 190lbs, well within range to be able to ride a rollercoaster comfortably!  If I can do better, by golly that would be great.

I’m not sure if it’s even possible to hit my original target of 165-170… though it might be as I continue to push myself harder in the gym.  I just don’t want to set up unrealistic goals and then be dissapointed when I don’t even come close.   I know I can pull at least 10lbs a month… I will put forth the extra effort to see that it happens!!

Lately, I’ve heard about people looking to other methods of weightloss.  I’ve got friends that are looking to get the lap-band surgery, or that may be looking towards certain weight-loss medications to accomplish their goals.  While I cheer and applaud anyone that’s looking to lose weight, I truly don’t believe in the idea of taking a shortcut to get there.   If I had gotten lap band, I don’t believe I would have built up nearly the the level of willpower that I currently have.  It’s not unbreakable, but I’ve been able to resist some pretty major tempations over the last few months.   If I’d taken any shortcuts, I would feel that I’ve done less than I could have for the same results.   The weightloss would be amazing, but I wouldn’t feel as though I actually “worked” for it, almost as if it was a gift given to me.  I know if that was the case, I wouldn’t feel the need to stick with it nearly as much, and In the end, I would just end up being one of the people that puts it all back.  I cannot… I will not ever let that happen!  I’ve worked too hard so far to look back, and once it’s all gone, I will never get back to where I was previously.  What I’ve done is a lifestyle change, and it’s one that I’ve been completely happy with so far.   I love the fact that I want to get out more and experience the world.  I’m actually somewhat saddened that winter is soon approaching, and it will be too cold for most outdoor activities.  My patience will pay off though, and by spring, I should be more than ready to get out there and start finding everything I’ve missed.

I’ve also noticed that several others have started taking up the torch, either dieting or becoming more active in their personal lives.  Some have taken up tennis, started going to the gym, started eating healthier and living overall healthier lives.  I want to encourage them to continue on, as well as to look for other options to keep the energy flowing.

In closing, once again, I just want to thank everyone for their support.  Everyone has played a small part in my success so far.  I just want to encourage everyone to join me and live a healthy, active lifestyle.  The more people that join, the easier it is to stick together and work together to meet all of our goals for health.

Where has the week gone?!  Last week was by far my busiest and most stressful week so far.  Work constantly kept me on my toes, and it seemed I never had even a moment to myself after hours.  I only ended up getting to the gym once or twice, and I barely even cracked open the site to post anything…

I did my official weigh in this morning, and there was no change in my weight… still 290lbs flat.  However, I did finally drop to 41% on my body fat.  I assume that means the gym vist I did have last week possibly did increase my muscle mass slightly, though I’m not sure if that’s really the case or not.   I also did a pretty decent grocery last week, and found several really awesome new items…. some of which I’ll be posting about.

As for the missing logs, I’m going to try to work my way back (I do have all of the pictures), but it might take me some time, as I don’t seem to have much time…

Here we go again… another week and even more progress to show.  Yesterday, I got on the scale and got a pleasant suprise.  It wasn’t an official weigh in, so I didn’t post, but it definately made me proud.  This morning, the weightloss retreated just a bit, but it was still pretty amazing.  291.8 lbs! That brings me to a grand total of 31.2 lbs since day 1!  That also means I lost a total of 2.7lbs since last week.  That’s amazing progress, especially given some of the food I’ve been having in the last week.  (I had Taco Bell twice!)   I’m still a few days behind as far as the journal goes, but I’ll be catching that up between today and tomorrow.  I’m making great progress, and in less than 3 months, I’ve already dropped over 1/5 of my goal!

I’m actually impressed…  this morning, I came in at 294.5 lbs!  That’s a total of 2.5 from last week, and a GRAND total of 28.5 lbs!  I should hit the 30 mark for next week, unless the workout puts on some “lean” weight, which is always a possibility.  Last week was an interesting one, and I still have posts to catch up on from the weekend.  After my workout on Thursday, I messed myself up pretty badly.  I was actually to the point where I could barely walk even a few feet without being in agonizing pain, and getting up and sitting down were worse!!  I really need to learn what I need to do to workout successfully without overdoing it.    This week, I’m going to be doing some fitness research and reading over some of the stuff Joanna sent over as far as exercising is concerned.

I did have some bad meals this week..  none of which have been posted yet.  They will be forthcoming..  I just need to get caught up with work this morning first.  I just wanted to get the good news out ASAP!

After last night’s double dinner, I was actually a little worried on how that would affect the weigh-in this morning.  I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom.  I was extremely suprised to see I’d actually lost 2 more lbs!  I was staring down at 297lbs!   That makes the total now offically 26 lbs!   This last weekend has been crazy with not going to New Orleans both because of the weather as well as emergencies at work.  Usually this level of stress is one of the reasons I break out of diets and go back to normal food, but I’ve really gone the extra mile with willpower this time.  I’m very proud of myself.  Today is Labor Day!  I’m going to be heading over to my friends house this evening.  I’m going to probably be eating a iittle heavier than usual, but I’ll eat light the rest of the day to compensate.   He’ll be having family coming in after evacuating from New Orleans, so overall, it should be an interesting evening….

It’s been a week since my last post.  The past week has been probably the most stressful that I’ve had in a long time for several reasons.  Between working with a dear friend to get their website online to house/pet sitting for my friends while they were out of town.   Work was especially crazy, as it seemed every time I had a few moments to myself, another fire would show up, and I’d be pulled in 12 directions at once!   In the end, everything in life was more important than my blog, so it had to be cut.   So, the question of the hour, is what happened?  Did I stick to it?  Will I post the last week!?   The answer to both is unequivocally, yes.   The last week, I’ve found some of the first major challenges to the diet.   I also varied things up a little more and went a little heavier on the calories and fat for some meals than I have done previously.   The biggest issue was not being home and being well outside of my comfort zone.  Frying up chicken breasts on the Foreman grill wasn’t an option, and my cereals were all left behind.  In their place, I resorted to frozen food, breakfast bars, and watermelon from QuickTrip.   On Friday, I had a pretty heavy free-day… culimating in an awesome dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings with a friend.     The other issue was being in that situation with lots of different restaurant choices glaring at me constantly.  Each and every day, I wanted to go to WingStop or any of my old favorites that I used to visit regularly when I lived in St. Charles..   this was by far the most difficult of all trials.  In the end, I survived and am happy to report the official weigh-in for this week comes in at 302.5!! It’s not a great drop.. but it’s still coming off!

So, what did I learn from this week:

• The blog is everything! One of the things from this past week was to see how well I did without tracking everything I ate.  I know for a fact I probably didn’t do as well as I normally do.  I’ve got all the photos of everything I ate, and they will be posted,  though it will take some time to backfill the posts.   In the meantime, I’m going to post from today forward, and it will be done ON TIME!   If I don’t post, I’m not holding myself accountable.  I’m not allowing you, the reader, to hold me accountable.  That’s the entire purpose.  To look back over the day and see exactly what it is I’ve eaten.  Seeing it, right there in living color, is one of the greatest deterrants that I’ve got to prevent overeating.  Eating a huge plate of pasta and then having it haunt me through the blog for weeks after keeps me from eating out of my range.
• Stress needs to be managed: Stress this past week really pushed me to consider going back to my old ways.  I was extremely overworked and overtasked and I wanted nothing more than a Big Mac to make it all go away.  In the end, I kept the Big Mac away and was able to manage my eating pretty well.   WingStop is still calling me, even as I write this!   Overall, I need to prevent my life from taking control and ruining everything I’ve worked towards.
• I need to have options: When I packed for my stay at my friend’s house, I grabbed a few items and picked up others at the grocery.   I blew through those supplies quickly, and some I found I didn’t even want.  That left me looking for other alternatives that just didn’t exist.  I find that I need to have alternatives, or I’m just going to turn to the dark side and have everything I’m not supposed to be having.   This will not end well!
• My scale is my best friend:  Not having that daily or semi daily check of my progress kept me in the dark about how I was doing.  Usually by mid-week I can see where I’m going and make adjustments.  This week, I had no such system and was flying completely blind.  When I take my trip to New Orleans for labor day, I’ll be sure to bring my scale along.  This will keep everything nice and consistent.  I’ll also be sure to bring it with me next time I’m staying away from the house for more than a day or two.

Overall, progress was made, though it was a difficult journey.   I just have to make sure to stay on top of the posts… I can’t get more than a meal or two behind.   I definately can’t leave everything for the next day, or I’ll never get done!   I’ll catch the last week up, but it might take all of this week to do so.  Just keep an eye out and it’ll show up soon!    Thank you for sticking with me during this journey!

This week, I was a little worried.  During the middle of the week, I kept seeing the pounds creep higher and higher, even though the calories remained pretty constant.  I thought more than anything, I needed to shock my system, and had a “Free Day” on Friday…. but still didn’t go crazy overboard.  After Friday, things started getting back to normal.   This morning, I weighed in at 307.5.  It’s well short of my 3lb per week goal, but still well below my 311 from earlier in the week.  Counting that, I’m down almost 4lbs for the entire week.  I’ll just have to keep an eye on it.