Weight Loss – 3 years (and 5 days) in

With all that is going on both professionally and personally, I forgot to celebrate an important day on Sunday... the 3 year anniversary of me starting Nutrisystem!

History thus far:

Start (5/3/2006): 415.2 lbs

End of Year 1 (5/3/2007): 291.2 (down 124)

End of Year 2 (5/3/2008): 224.2 (down 191)

8/10/2008: 215 lbs (down 200.2)

End of Year 3 (5/3/2009): 252.8

Your eyes do not deceive you, despite having lost ~205 over 30 month period... I've since gained ~40 of that back... to explain some of how that happened, it's important to tell the story of how the weight first got started so many years ago.

History of the weight

Due to food allergies from a very young age (pre-kindergarten), I was put on a diet that avoided not only certain foods I was known to react poorly to (behaviorally, not so much physically), as well as so many of those pesky pesticides and herbicides that some worry about.

Each day I went to school with a lunchbox of foods that didn't quite look the same as what everyone else was having (rather than Cheerios I had Oat-e-oos, rather than chocolate cookies I had carob ones (the list goes on)) and all was well in the world... except for that I'd already had issues making friends and having such a difference made things even harder.

Eventually one day in 4th grade I had enough, I said I was done with the whole diet thing and began to eat normal cafeteria food.

On the surface this wouldn't seem like a bad thing... only because of always eating out of a box at school... I'd never fully learned proper portion control. That... coupled with the fact that all of the cafeteria food was just so delicious (compared to what I had been having for lunch) that I'd when I'd get done with the food on my tray and I'd go back for seconds, sometimes even thirds, all the while almost never going out to recess afterwards.

At this point two things happened... 1) my behavior changed radically and eventually lead to my parents deciding that this the school wasn't the right place for me (something I'd been advocating since the first day of kindergarten in fact), 2) I began to gain weight.

Prior to quitting the diet, I was a fairly scrawny kid, not super short, but not at all on the taller side of things, pretty average in fact (except for when you'd turn me on my side I'd virtually disappear), but after quitting the weight just began to grow and I never really took steps to prevent it.

What about the recent 40?

All was going well last fall where I'd largely plateaued ~210 lbs, was going to the gym 2-3x a week and doing both strength and cardio training to try to eliminate some of the remaining fat pockets (which were leading to awful muffin top issues and requiring me to wear slightly baggy shirts) and generally boost my metabolism, something I'd really not tried through much working out previously... then things got busy.

In November I was sent to PDC & WinHEC in LA, and due to what I knew was going to be a tight schedule that would also likely involve me having a difficult time doing the additional grocery shopping I would need to do, I opted not to bring my food with.

I figured that a week or two of mostly eating out wasn't going to kill me or set me to far back.

Then came a 2+ week long vacation spread between South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota and involved plenty of good home-style cooking, a pair of Thanksgiving dinners (in the same day no less) and more eating out, most of which to precluded my being able to bring my own food with.

Come December I was trying to get things back on track... only to have some family visit and again... more eating out and even a big ole Christmas dinner.

Somewhere along the way... I had a glimpse into something I'd long forgotten... a semblance of being 'normal' and not having to obsess over what I eat.

This bout with normalcy was only a half-assed one really as while I still mostly stuck with my Nutrisystem foods... but would also sometimes forget to bring lunch and have something (almost certainly bad for me) from Café 43 on campus (the cafeteria a short walk down a few flights of stairs and out a door from my office), however this level of cheating was enough to negate much of the goodness from the parts of the diet I was following.

Then... the fire came, completely throwing my personal life into a bit of chaos which created a bit of a sense of 'awe *(&$-it', at which point I did a little more fast food and other bad things I shouldn't have.

On the plus side though, all the while I stayed at least semi-regular with the gym, even to the point that I decided at one point that walking to work on most days I wasn't going to the gym was probably wearing my legs out a bit so I should pick one (the gym won out).

A couple of times since the 'awe *(&$-it' I've tried to restart the diet, usually going a couple of weeks before straying to various levels of badness... though I am hopeful that the last restart sticks.

Unfortunately though, hitting 210 again is likely going to be more difficult the second time than it was the first... partially because this time around my body knows what I'm trying to do (and likely doesn't like it)... but also because in the ~9 months I've regularly been going to the gym (except for most of November) I've built of a fair bit of strength in certain areas:

(Entertaining sidebar: Unfortunately a few months ago I had to buy a new arm band for my Zune as the old one seemed to be getting smaller and smaller as time went on and kept falling off when at the gym, go fig?)

And we all know that muscle mass is still mass, so even if I am replacing 1 lb of fat with 1 lb of muscle, while I may trim/firm up a bit, the scale will still report me as the same weight.

So... that's my report on the last year, major successes during the first half... and major setbacks during the second, with any luck by the time year 4 rolls around I'll be in a far better place physically than I am today.

Although the recent 'awe *(&$-it' stage also reminds me that at one point I am going to need to figure out what I'm going to do when I eventually reach and can maintain a weight/build I am happy with and move away from the Nutrisystem foods... as my cooking skills are largely non-existent (which is another reason for the initial weight gain).

Photos

So now without further ado... the requisite photo montage:

Before start:

Year 1:

Year 2:

Year 3 (on Wednesday):

While it may not look like there is much of a difference between year 2 and 3... take my word for it, it's there. While the shirt(s) in year 2 and 3 look the same, while both are labeled XLT, the one worn in year 3 fits far better than the one in year 2 I'm sad to say.

One upshot

Before closing, I do need to point out one strange benefit of what has happened in the last 6 months... arguments have been easier to win.

A few months back while disagreeing with a co-worker over the correct implementation for something during a meeting and rather than finish things there, someone suggested (rightly) that we meet later to discuss the issue or just arm wrestle over it... to which I agreed and without thinking said "lets just do a quick arm wrestle now to save time"... to which the co-worker said "I don't know... let me see your arms" at which point I pulled up the sleeve of my shirt and the co-worker jumped back and decided not to proceed with the match.

200

...or "Two century club"

...or "longest 8 lbs ever!"

My long running weight loss campaign has hit another milestone today with the scale telling me I'd reached 215 lbs, 200.2 lbs down from where I'd started back in May of 2006.

Believe it or not... I don't mind it taking ~2 years to reach this milestone. I mind the fact that 3 months to lose the last 8 lbs to bring me to this point from the 2 year in blog post back in May.

Why'd it take so long? Two reasons I see... first and foremost is that my body has now caught on to what I'm trying to do to it and where it is actively fighting back against me. Coupled with the fact that I keep having people putting good food in my face at work and me not always saying no... things have slowed pretty good.

It's all good though... 200 down... 20 to go and yet another reminder I REALLY need to get into the gym and use the free membership I've got more than I have (twice in 4 months).

Weight Loss - 2 years in

Yesterday a little known aniversery came and went with little notice in the blogsphere... largely because I was too busy to celebrate it... until now.

What is this anniversary? Two years ago I began a weight loss campaign that has been fairly successful.

On the morning I started I weighed 415.2, a year later I was down by 123.8 lbs to 291.4, yesterday I was down a further 68.2 to 223.2, a total loss of 192 lbs since I began this whole thing in May of 2006 and only 28 lbs away from my (perverted) goal of 195!

Before:

A year ago:

Today:

(no it is not the same T-shirt as last year... just the same style only 2x's smaller and from the same store and manufacturer)

Despite the last year not progressing as fast as the first (or as fast as I'd like) it has been a pretty good one none the less, not only did I enter the BMI territory of merely being overweight instead of obese and now largely look like a normal person with a bit of extra flab if you see me without a shirt.

Rather than rehash everything I said last year... lets talk about some of what's happened since...

Clothing

Clothing continues to be an interesting area as I'm now down to a 38 inch waist and an XLT T-shirt one would think I'd finally be able to shop at 'normal' clothing stores... which is have true. I can finally find jeans and belts almost anywhere (I just may have to dig a bit)... shirts on the other hand air fairly tricky as a good chunk of my height is in my upper body, absolutely requiring an extra inch or two of material so as to let me tuck it in and avoid flashing folks.

Some stores like JC Penny has a decent big and tall section, Eddie Bauer also has a few items for a reasonable price (provided they are marked down)... other than that I keep my eyes open for anything marked LT or XLT and that appears to have a reasonable length to it.

I am also thrilled to be able to now avoid going into Casual Male XL and paying the ridiculous prices there (even for smaller sizes (if/when they have them in stock)).

Hunting

Back in November I got to go deer hunting with a friend for my third year and ended up wearing my same 4xlt gear that I'd purchased when I was in the 400's because my cheapness (and at the time poorness) prevented me from buying a parka and bibs that fit good. While I don't have any pictures of me in that getup, it was pretty difficult to run around in such a ridiculously oversized outfit which will be replaced one way or another come hunting season 08 (provided I'm able to return to South Dakota).

Temptations and Schedules

I suspect that the remaining 28 lbs will be the most difficult, partially because my body finally has come to understand what I'm doing to it ("my stores, my precious stores" it's been heard to scream from time to time)

One of the biggest reasons though is the fact that my new employer tends to feed us and feed us well be it as part of a nightly dinner thing for those who decide to work late, other semi-regular events with food or just going down to the local cafeteria for lunch with a couple of co-workers.

So far (like in past) I've been doing very good at sticking to my diet most of the time and minimizing the amount of going astray I do... though the degree of temptation sure does make things tricky... especially considering running up stairs to eat with some co-workers and enjoy an interesting variety of what gets ordered is a heck of a lot easier than grabbing my own little thing out of a box of food (that I finally remembered to bring into the office for just such times).

Comments from others

My perverted goal from the beginning of this whole campaign was to see sub 200 (ideally 195 as a nice round number) and despite now reaching a weight that looks fairly normal for a person of my height (until you see the excess skin) I surprise people when I mention that I'm on a diet where comments range from "Why would you be on a diet?" all the way up to "Like hell you need one, I need one!"

This has become especially common around dinner time at work (if I'm still there then) when someone suggests we go grab something up stairs to which I'll say "Love to, I brought my own", to which they'll reply "Why the hell would you do that?", to which I respond "Because I'm on a diet."

Usually it ends there... sometimes I'll have to add "Because despite having lost around 190 lbs, I've still got another 30 or so I want to lose."

On a side note it is now interesting being proportionally smaller than a number of my South Dakota friends and how some felt uncomfortable around 'skinny Brendan' and wished that I'd gain 50 lbs to make them feel at home again.

Disgusting bits

Back in January or February I had a chest x-ray done which required me taking off my shirt. After words the doctor asked out of no where "So how much weight have you lost?" without the topic ever being mentioned previously or (presumably) existing in my chart.

How'd he know? Because I've got the flab of a former fat man who has lost a hell of a lot of weight.

Skin is a funny thing... it *generally* snaps back into place for a woman who has had a child as it spent only 9 months being stretched out and has a fair amount of time to recover after the fact.

I spent a far longer time with far more stretching of the skin which means at the very least mine will take much longer to recover... if it can fully.

As things stands today I've still got a strangely shaped gut for my size as well as a few other bits of flab (fat and skin) that like to protrude at strange times and positions and it will likely take some time (and additional weight loss) for them to go away... otherwise I may be looking at a trip under the knife in a year or three to resolve some of these issues.

Posture

I've never had the best posture and due to my height would tend to slouch a bit (talk people tend to fear short things due to hitting our heads on them so and preemptively duck as a result) and when coupled with my previous excess weight sitting properly and comfortably was tricky as no chair was quite right for me... now that problem has gotten worse.

Due largely to some of the excess skin and flab I've still got hanging around properly sitting in a high backed chair doesn't work well as I continue not to fit... only now instead of just being the wrong shape... I'm mostly the right shape with the exception of a spot or two that pushes wrong.

To put this in prospective for those without this problem... imagine trying to sit in a well designed chair (for your back)... and then throw a tennis ball or two between you and it and try to get comfortable.

Feeling different/better

A common reaction from those who learn I've lost so much weight is "Don't you just feel so much better?" to which I often respond simply "No, not really."

Maybe it's because it was such a gradual loss over such a long time that I didn't notice or the fact that I was actually fairly healthy at my previous weight... I really haven't a noticed a difference in the way I feel or my stamina... though I have developed a slight aversion to the cold where long ago (ie in college) I'd run around on a 10 degree day with snow coming down with just a T-shirt (because I didn't want to be bothered by a jacket once I reached my destination)... now I wait for it to get to about 15 before I think about going jacketless.

A catchy closing sub-title

So that's the last two years in a nut shell... at least when it comes to weight loss.

Things continue to go well on the weight loss front though not as fast as I would like anymore. With 28 lbs to go and my current average of ~5 lbs a month... I should reach my goal weight in 6 months maybe and with any luck my post on this subject a year from now will be reporting on my attempts to maintain my weight.

On a side note I suppose I could give into the requests/pleads/demands of others and cut my hair and/or shave my beard... who knows, that might get me a little closer to my goal... naaaa.

Now merely overweight

This morning I hopped on the scale for my daily weigh in and it told me I'd reached 246 lbs.

Woot!

While not an important number on it's own... nor is the 169.2 lbs I've lost since starting very special either, a quick look at a BMI calculator (along with my height of 6'4") tells me that I've now got a BMI (yes I know it's a flawed system) of 29.9... which means reached the zone of 'overweight' instead of 'obese'.

Yippie.

Today:

Compare that to before this all started:

Next stop... a BMI of <25 and being of 'normal weight' which we should see in another... 42 lbs or so.

150

This morning my daily weigh in put me at 265 even, a full 150.2lbs down since I started my weight loss campaign back in May 2006 when I started at 415.2.

Previously:

This morning:

Bo ya! *Only* 69.8 lbs to go.

My weight loss experience - 1 year in

I am pleased to announce that today is the 1 year anniversary of my beginning the Nutrisystem program and since starting I've lost 123.8 lbs.

And now... the requisite before pictures:

And today (taken just this morning):

The back story:

So a little over a year ago I decided I should try something else to lose a few pounds. Why? I wish I could give a grand overriding reason such as not liking small children (or woman) looking at me in horror, more expensive clothing, not fitting into most airline seats, difficulty finding cars that fit well (partially due to being 6'4") or something else so motivating... instead one day I just said "lets give it another try".

So a year ago I gave into one of the many Nutrisystem commercials I'd hear on the radio, see on tv or see as banner ads online and with that... it began with my first day being Wednesday May 3rd, 2006 and in that time, have lost 123.8 lbs bringing me from a starting weight of 415.2 down to 291.4, a long way towards my perverted goal of seeing sub 200.

(Want to learn more about Nutrisystem? Shoot me an email and we can talk and if you'd like I can also send you a $30 coupon)

If you are not familiar with Nutrisystem, the basic idea is that each month they send you a box of food, 28 breakfasts, lunches, dinners and deserts and as it turns out... I made a little mistake towards the beginning. I didn't quite read this instructions and didn't know that I was supposed to add in my own food. Why is this important? The Nutrisystem plan (which is more than just a bit of calorie counting (a big thing for me as it turned out)) revolves around eating ~1800 calories a day and what they send you... is only about half of that.So my first week wasn't very fun as I was only eating what they sent... but once I started adding some fruits and little 80 calorie fruit and yogurt things all was well and I began to lose pretty rapidly, take these graphs:

Weight loss since starting:

30 day average:

Unfortunately the overall rate has been slowing down a bit, but that's to be expected just how much I've lost and how much I've got left but thankfully with the recent repair of my exercise bike and air conditioner installation, I'll be able to do something I haven't been doing for quite a while... work out.

The funny thing is that since beginning this weight loss... I've had more problems because of my weight (change) than I ever did previously. Crazy I know. Care to guess what the worst part (in my opinion) about massive weight loss is?

Clothing.

Back on May 3rd, 2006 I tipped the scales at 415.2 lbs, wore pants with a 52 inch waist (that were a tad tight) and wore 5xlt shirts. Today, I'm down to wearing pants with a 46 inch waist and 3xlt shirts with 2xlt shirts being likely only a month away and 44's about a month later.

Six inches and two x's I've gone down so far and have had to buy some intermediate clothes.

Many say that they love getting to buy new 'skinny clothes' and throw out the old 'fat clothes'... only I'm not all fond of that just yet for two reasons:

1. New clothes cost money... and I am notoriously cheap on many things including clothes. I resist going in and dropping $25 for a pair of jeans, and $17 for a simple t-shirt and at least $35 for a work (dress-ish) shirt.
2. Any clothes I buy today will be retired in 6-8 months just like all of those clothes I started off with.

To raise a few dollars for new clothes as well as get rid of some of my older clothes, I've taken to selling them on eBay to mixed results. First auction of 15 shirts netted me $100 while the second of 10 only earned me $18.50. In fact right now I've got two more lots up on eBay (Lot 1, Lot 2).

So as bad as street and work clothing has been... specialty clothing is also going to be a bit problematic, take my deer hunting outfit for example:

When I purchased the jacket and bibs (the bottoms) I dropped $225 for a setup that fit like a glove back in 2005, however in 2006 when out chasing Bambi I was 70lbs less than the year before, things were noticeably loose to me but not as much on film:

Although a quick shot looking inside of the jacket does show a fair bit of extra room:

I can only imagine how bad things would be today, let alone during deer season 2007... so I'm definitely going to need to drop another small pile of cash on another setup that will hopefully last me a little longer as frankly, I don't think I'll be losing another 123.8lbs anytime soon unless I get a leg sawed off (granted another 70 is still a possibility).

One hopes that my current setup that's only been out a few times will still fetch a few bucks on eBay... but I don't think I'll list them until this summer when more folks are in the market for that kind of gear.

Another interesting thing I've encountered due to the weight loss... reduced alcohol tolerance.

Back when I was in college I might be found at the bar once or twice a month with friend and back then I could drink beer like water without a problem. Even after college when my low desire for drinking became even smaller, that tolerance was still in place... today though, I can feel alcohol a heck of a lot quicker than I could even a year ago.

I rather liked being an expensive date/drunk.

Why this has happened I cannot say... but I expect it's either due to the lower body weight or more likely (in my mind) my increased abstention as I don't drink as much these days as I did a year, two or even three ago... partially due to lack of interest, but also due to finances and calories (maybe if I can find some decent tasting calorie free beer).

Despite all of the complements I've received since this all began... I'm sad to say that I haven't noticed things as much as others. Sure, I see a massive change in the way clothes fit, I've noticed some differences when looking at pictures or looking at the scale every morning... but also every morning when I look at myself in the mirror, I look just the same as the day/week/month/year before and when I look down when not wearing a shirt I see the same belly I've seen for as long as I can remember.

Sure, I'm the least suited to judge the difference in body size as I'm not exactly the most impartial or objective observer... I do hope though that I will see the day in a year or two when I can look down and see less flab.

So that's it really... in 1 year I lost 123.8 lbs out of 220lbs I'd like to lose. Will I make it? I don't know. Perhaps in another 50/70/90 I'll be happy enough with where I am at, however I certainly cannot say for sure today as I still know I've got plenty to lose, but it is nice to know that I am more than halfway to my goal and have done a great deal of successful work in achieving it... and in recognition of it I have a small collection of Nutrisystem bears sitting atop my curtains in the living room:

For every 10lbs you lose on Nutrisystem they send you a little stuffed bear to help note your progress and help make the entire quest a little more manageable. Instead of focusing each and every day on the final goal of losing some insanely large number... one can instead focus on getting their next bear... unfortunately from the sounds of it they do not do any bears beyond 100lbs (ignoring the Goal Bear you receive if/when you reach your goal) so I may need to pressure them into making some larger ones as I'd really hate to have to wait another 96.2 lbs.

Funny... despite knowing that my current loss is more than half of my total goal... it wasn't until writing the previous paragraph that I realized that I only had 96.2lbs to go... me thinks I may need to start calculating that as well, have that as a number just as handy as how many lbs I've lost as sure, a high # of lost lbs is a nice thing to be able to brag about... it alone doesn't mean as much as being able to say as well "And I'm only ___ lbs away from my goal!"

Note: Knowing that this happy day was quickly approaching, this post was actually begun on Monday morning so as to give me an opportunity to say everything I wanted without utterly killing my hands come Thursday morning.

“So Damn Skinny”

At noon today my company had it’s annual Christmas Dinner and while in line to get a bit of ham and mashed potatoes someone turned around slighly and jumped a bit and said “Oh, I didn’t recognize you since you had gotten so damn skinny.”

Always a nice thing to hear when 90lbs down... of course, with the exception of the fit of some clothes and the number on the scale every morning... even now I still really can’t tell when I look in the mirror.

Weight Loss

Yesterday I had the pleasure (for the third time this summer/fall) to have a co-worker comment on my weight... which has been going down nicely for a little while now.

Quite good times... gotta love what smoking, crack and bulimia can do for ya! ... except for the whole clothes not fitting very well anymore thing and the me being too cheap to buy much more until I've got no choice.

The funny thing though is that a month ago while in Minneapolis I got a chatting with a friend's step-dad and while giving advice on this and that (at times it's hard to stop him), he got onto the subject of my weight and how great it'd be if I could lose a couple of lbs... on and on, several times I tried to jump in and said "Bill... please stop now, you are horribly insulting me and you don't know why" to which he would poo-poo it and keep going... until he finally let me get a word in and I told him that I'd already been working on it and had had some great success and quoted the number, which comes out to be a 12% reduction since I started.

One problem for me... is that being so hideously tall (6'4"), gaining or losing any amount of weight is virtually unnoticeable to anyone (including me). I include me as while I've been able to fit into some of my old (and much loved) shirts (stupid computer job, sitting on my rear for 3.25 years!!!), the pants haven't changed much... for now I just end up having to knock a hole in a belt or two and pulling it slightly tighter.

Shrinkage and the Pizza Ranch

On the second Tuesday of the month a group of engineers at the company I work for takes a short drive to the city Brandon and have lunch there at the local Pizza Ranch.

Last week when we were there I noticed an unfortunate... problem. Fullness.

After a second medium filled plate of pizza and potatoes I felt my stomach saying “no more, please, no more!”... an unusual feeling for me to say the least.

I realized then what it was... a side effect of a my recently trying Nutrisystem to drop a few lbs. One thing I discovered on day one of eating the Nutrisystem food was that it was all quite small and in the process seems to have shrunk the size of my stomach a bit. Ordinarily I might dislike that but over the last 6 some weeks I have lost about 30 lbs so I’m not really complaining, just an interesting development.