Just watched an interesting, yet unsettling, story on 60 minutes about the Duke diet research center. The uplifting part was that many super obese people (of which I’m not one of them), lost significant amounts of weight (like 300 pounds). But, the majority of the people featured in January of (02 or 03) also gained back the weight (I think with one exception, the Iowa farmer).
The basic point of the story, at least that I took home, was this: science shows us over and over that diets produce only temporary results. People almost always gain back the weight they lost via diet. Certainly that is true for me, on more levels than one. I’m currently gaining back some of the weight I lost over the summer; as well, I weighed 190 pounds (or less) when I was 21, down from 230 and gained it back and more. It’s quite frustrating, yet there doesn’t appear any real solution (save, surgery – it seems to be one of the few methods that actually produces long term results).
But, I’m still getting good exercise and eating relatively sensibly.
Ironically, I learned today that my big gulp of dr. pepper has fewer calories than a bottle: the reason? Because with all of the ice, a 32 oz cup ends up with the equivalent of ~40% of a 16 oz bottle; ergo, approximately 100 calories. Who knew the 32 oz cup would have fewer calories than the 16 oz bottle J.
Monday, September 20, 2004
Monday, September 13, 2004
More Frustration
Can't believe I just lost post I spent 20 mins creating.
Essentials: I still have girlfriend, and school, and lots of responsibility. With new girlfriend, I'm out of my house multiple days per week. I've not kept up with my food journal because of it. Nonetheless, I'm still only ~+5 pounds overall from my low of about 248. And, to boot, my 40 in shorts don't fit so well, but the 38s are too tight. . . I'm 39 and holding :-).
It's frustrating, but I actually ran tonight.
anyhow. . .
k.
Essentials: I still have girlfriend, and school, and lots of responsibility. With new girlfriend, I'm out of my house multiple days per week. I've not kept up with my food journal because of it. Nonetheless, I'm still only ~+5 pounds overall from my low of about 248. And, to boot, my 40 in shorts don't fit so well, but the 38s are too tight. . . I'm 39 and holding :-).
It's frustrating, but I actually ran tonight.
anyhow. . .
k.
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Frustration (all things considered)
ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, FRUSTRATION FRUSTRATING YET EXPECTED TO SOME DEGREE.
I reivewed data for the past few weeks. It's clear to me that I've "gained" about five (5) pounds (and added a few inches back to my waist).
I have a girlfriend now. And she cooks. Well.
Do the math.
And, since she lives 22 miles away, in a city with awful traffic, the commute times definitely take away from exercise activities. And with school back in swing things have gotten tricky.
School's gotten a bit scary lately, but I'd like to get in regular exercise (riding to school definitely helps). I suppose if nothing else, I always have those intense 30 min workouts I've been doing).
I reivewed data for the past few weeks. It's clear to me that I've "gained" about five (5) pounds (and added a few inches back to my waist).
I have a girlfriend now. And she cooks. Well.
Do the math.
And, since she lives 22 miles away, in a city with awful traffic, the commute times definitely take away from exercise activities. And with school back in swing things have gotten tricky.
School's gotten a bit scary lately, but I'd like to get in regular exercise (riding to school definitely helps). I suppose if nothing else, I always have those intense 30 min workouts I've been doing).
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Frustration
It's been a frustrating 10 days or so. I believe I've gained about five pounds in the past few weeks, mostly because of lack of exercise and more poor eating habits. For god's sake, I actually at a hamburger, fries and soda tonight. I realize it's got to happen at some point, but I need to be more judicious about it.
C and I are new, so I've spent lots of time driving and getting back and forth and stuff. Totally worth it, but it definitely sticks out as one of those "you can't have everything" analyses. And in gaining Christine I've lost some exercise habits. Nutrition at her place (aka the retaurant) is also double edged: Probably consuming fewer calories but many calories in much of her food. [Not complaining, just observing.]
Also, haven't been nearly as regular with my food journal. In fact, I'm going to go write on the board now. . .
k
C and I are new, so I've spent lots of time driving and getting back and forth and stuff. Totally worth it, but it definitely sticks out as one of those "you can't have everything" analyses. And in gaining Christine I've lost some exercise habits. Nutrition at her place (aka the retaurant) is also double edged: Probably consuming fewer calories but many calories in much of her food. [Not complaining, just observing.]
Also, haven't been nearly as regular with my food journal. In fact, I'm going to go write on the board now. . .
k
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Stagnation - motiviation
LACK OF MOTIVATION
Feeling a lack of motivation these days. Probably because I now have a girlfriend and my weight issues had much to do with chasing down a girl. Now that I have the girl seems like I need not try to so hard to maintain weight. I realize that's nonsensical, the purpose for weight loss, should be overall health, with image being a nice by product, so I need to work on that a bit.
The truth is, there's something about eating without a plan, and it's sort of hard to control from several different perspectives. For one thing, when I was out of town with my buddy, I was then eating on his schedule, and eating his food. The foodstuffs were, mostly, out of my control. I always tried to eat sensibly, but didn't always suceed (indeed, we had multiple batches of oreo cookies which they bought at the store). Had some chips which were served as a pre-dinner snack. Food I wouldn't eat at home, but at there because it was what was served.
PICTURES/VIDEO
Some video was taken of me while I was there. . . and as always I'm flabbergasted at the disconnect at how I perceive my body and what actually appears on the screen (doesn't help that I'm losing my hair now too).
EXERCISE
On the positive side, I did go for two nice runs while I was there, one for 3.1 miles and the other a 4.0 mile run. Both were fun and invigorating. I definitely feel stronger with the workouts.
TIME
Since I've been spending more and more time at the GF's house, the time budget is stretched and something has to give. To date, that something has largely been workouts. I'll need to remedy that to see what I can do to dedicate more time to sensible workouts, especially since I'll be more time pressed when school starts next week.
WEIGHT
I seemed to weigh approximately 252 pounds these days, which is a bit up from my prior low of 248. I actually did tell my buddy T that I'd lost about 25 pounds since law school ended. I'd like to keep that momentum going, but I'll have to be smart about it.
FOOD JOURNAL
There is something to recording what you actually eat. It makes me consider what I've eaten so far. I later considered that it was probably a mistake to not keep track of what I ate in St. Louis. . . It dawned on me later that I could have easily brought 7 index cards and 4 colored markers and replicated, with relative ease, my wipeboard.
GENESIS OF KONA
On the airplane ride home, I heard the speaker announce that flights "going on to Kona, go to gate." And I thought: I'd like to go to Kona. Indeed, I'd like to go to Kona and do the big dance. The Hawaii Ironman. . . but it's going to take some work to get there, notably, I need to lose about 75 pounds to make that a reality.
SOLUTIONS
One solution to the lack of time for exercise is to replace some of the commutes to the southern coast to be commutes down to the GF's house. . . even if you take a train or a bus part of the route. In the end though, the costs of getting down and back in time commitment are pretty large, it's more than an hour each way (one hour of transport, and additional time used to plan what to bring, to bring it and other misc. time spent).
Feeling a lack of motivation these days. Probably because I now have a girlfriend and my weight issues had much to do with chasing down a girl. Now that I have the girl seems like I need not try to so hard to maintain weight. I realize that's nonsensical, the purpose for weight loss, should be overall health, with image being a nice by product, so I need to work on that a bit.
The truth is, there's something about eating without a plan, and it's sort of hard to control from several different perspectives. For one thing, when I was out of town with my buddy, I was then eating on his schedule, and eating his food. The foodstuffs were, mostly, out of my control. I always tried to eat sensibly, but didn't always suceed (indeed, we had multiple batches of oreo cookies which they bought at the store). Had some chips which were served as a pre-dinner snack. Food I wouldn't eat at home, but at there because it was what was served.
PICTURES/VIDEO
Some video was taken of me while I was there. . . and as always I'm flabbergasted at the disconnect at how I perceive my body and what actually appears on the screen (doesn't help that I'm losing my hair now too).
EXERCISE
On the positive side, I did go for two nice runs while I was there, one for 3.1 miles and the other a 4.0 mile run. Both were fun and invigorating. I definitely feel stronger with the workouts.
TIME
Since I've been spending more and more time at the GF's house, the time budget is stretched and something has to give. To date, that something has largely been workouts. I'll need to remedy that to see what I can do to dedicate more time to sensible workouts, especially since I'll be more time pressed when school starts next week.
WEIGHT
I seemed to weigh approximately 252 pounds these days, which is a bit up from my prior low of 248. I actually did tell my buddy T that I'd lost about 25 pounds since law school ended. I'd like to keep that momentum going, but I'll have to be smart about it.
FOOD JOURNAL
There is something to recording what you actually eat. It makes me consider what I've eaten so far. I later considered that it was probably a mistake to not keep track of what I ate in St. Louis. . . It dawned on me later that I could have easily brought 7 index cards and 4 colored markers and replicated, with relative ease, my wipeboard.
GENESIS OF KONA
On the airplane ride home, I heard the speaker announce that flights "going on to Kona, go to gate." And I thought: I'd like to go to Kona. Indeed, I'd like to go to Kona and do the big dance. The Hawaii Ironman. . . but it's going to take some work to get there, notably, I need to lose about 75 pounds to make that a reality.
SOLUTIONS
One solution to the lack of time for exercise is to replace some of the commutes to the southern coast to be commutes down to the GF's house. . . even if you take a train or a bus part of the route. In the end though, the costs of getting down and back in time commitment are pretty large, it's more than an hour each way (one hour of transport, and additional time used to plan what to bring, to bring it and other misc. time spent).
Monday, August 02, 2004
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