lose 100 pounds

Lost 65 pounds from my all time high and still going down. 10 more days on this master cleanse, then a vegetarian diet and, if I can pull it off, a body for life challenge.

But, one day at a time at this point….

I’m at my lowest weight I’ve been in about 4 years.

Today I went to the gym, for the first time in months. I’ve been exercising recently, but mostly around the house, going for walks, etc. That burns the fat, but it doesn’t really get my heart rate up. So, I finally went and used my Fitness 19 membership and really enjoyed myself. Found it quite easy to go 35 minutes on the bike, then amazed myself a 2nd time by spending 15 minutes on the eliptical!

The key is my new found vitatlity. Not only did the master cleanse help kick start some new eating habits, but seeing the contrast in how bad I feel from eating meats, cheese, and carbs has really opened my eyes. The last few days I’ve been sticking to vegetables, fruit, fresh fruit juice (the MC made me fall in love with making my own lemonade), and the occasional fish or eggs for protein. Fish and eggs slow me down, but not nearly as much as steak and chicken. I just blew myself away tonight when I stayed on that eliptical for more than 5 minutes.

So yes, I feel like I’m making a dent in the lifestyle that has made me fat, tired, lazy, and generally unhealthy over the last 30 years. I’m still a little fat, but lazy has been kicked to the curb, and tired is packing its bags.

Here’s to living past 40!

I signed up with a gym today. I’ll start going over the weekend, or Monday. Today is the last day of my master cleanse so I’m looking forward to going back to normal food, but also diligent on making sure I hang onto my good food habits.

I can’t believe what I used to eat. My insides are so pure and clean right now, I don’t want to repollute myself with crap. But let’s take a look back and see what I used to put inside me.

4-5 years ago when I ate fast food 3 meals a day, my average meal from Jack in the Box might consist of:

• A Bacon/Swiss Burger combo meal, large size
• Bacon/Cheddar Potato Wedges + 2 Sour Cream
• 2 to 4 of those $.99 Tacos

That would tide me over for 3-5 hours. If the meal was dinner, that was enough fat and carbs to put me to sleep for the night. I might even just pass out on the couch and not make it to bed.

When I started working out 3 years ago, Fast Food, along with a few other dietary gems such as Krispy Kremes, were put on the disavowed list. This is when I cut Mcdonalds and Burger King almost exlusively out of my life, and instead just made occasional runs, say once a week, to Wendy’s, Taco Bell, KFC, or when I was feeling really naughty or depressed, Jack in the Box. Even then, I would try to avoid the blatant menu items like Bacon / Cheddar wedges, and stick to the relatively healthy chicken sandwiches and tacos (lettuce is healthy right?). I also started taking vitamins, and at least attempting exercise even if I didn’t make it to the gym. This involved conscious efforts to walk up stairs instead of elevators, parking out in the sticks and then walking up to the store front, drinking lots of water, etc. None of them made me lose weight, but it stopped me from packing on the fat like I had been doing in previous years.

But even the last few years, up until 13 days ago, I could still make eating beef / cheese / fat meals a 3 day occurrence – as long as it wasn’t fast food. This would mean running by the local “beef / hotdog shack” for a Gyro, Pizza, etc – or the local 24 hour mexican place for rolled tacos and sour cream, plus a huge plate of nachos. I tried to eat a lot more greens as well, but, packed on top of them 14 layers of carbs and fat. I felt like I was making some effort to eat better, but not the effort I would need to do to lose the weight, or survive past 40y for that matter.

But these last 13 days have been unreal. Sure I still crave a big slimy salty peice of cow flesh on a bun, and I will eat a bit of it here and there. But the thought of going back to eating like that 3 meals a day repulses me.

Of course, once I break the MC, we’ll see if I go back to old habits. It’s easy for a junkie to say he’s going to lead a clean life while he’s still in rehab – it’s one he’s back on the street that is the true test. At least before I felt trapped by food, now I feel like I have choices.

I got my weekly email about this goal so I thought I’d post an update about it.

I’m on Day 12 of my 14 day Master Cleanse and it’s going great. I haven’t weighed myself, but my guess is I’ve lost 20 or so pounds. My pants are so loose I have to keep pulling them up, and I’m on the last notch of my belt.

When I end the cleanse on Friday I’m going to start eating a lot of fruits and vegetables. It’s an easy sell, because the MC has made me feel so good and have so much energy, I want to hold onto that. I’ll still go back to the occasional pizza or other bad food, but operative word there is occasional and not every night.

Most of all I feel like the MC has put an end to my food addiction, or at the very least, made a large dent. I can think rationally about food now – make decisions on what I want to put in my body. I can tell you right now that soda, even diet coke (an old favorite of mine that I thought I would drink until the day I die) is out. I was already a huge fan of water, but now I’m an exclusive fan – water, tea, or juice, and maybe the occasional beer or glass of wine.

Back home, my friend Steph is getting married in October. Wouldn’t it be great if I showed up 60 pounds lighter? I know it’s an aggressive schedule, but on an extended MC I think I can do it. That would put me at or near the 300 mark.

And I’d have to buy a new suit, but I wouldn’t mind that :)

I’m 5 days into my Master Cleanse, and I’ve already dropped a few pounds.

More than anything, the MC is changing the way I think about food. Just like someone with a drug problem goes into detox, I’m in food detox right now and I can think about food from an unbiased, non-addicted perspective.

Even though my MC will last no more than 30 days, I’d like to think that this is the beginning of a long journey, at the end of which my body is in the shape and health that I want it to be in.

Of course I’m only 5 days into it, but that’s 4 days longer than I thought I would last. Maybe this is the beginning of some lasting change.

One thing is, I feel great. I’m so glad I did this. I’m learning a lot about how my body works.

Very shortly, in the next weeks/months I’m going to do the Master Cleanse and try to leverage it to permanently change my lifestyle.

Since I came to Chicago 3 weeks ago, meals have been classified into 2 categories: social events and “I’m hungry”. A social event meal is a meal spent with one or more people. I tend have a lot of these, partially because I like to eat with my friends (we’re all busy, but we can always make time to get together for a bite to eat) and partially because in business these social meals are hugely popular. It’s almost impossible to be in business environment and not have a “business lunch” with coworkers, the boss, a vendor, or a client at least once a week.

The “I’m hungry” meals consist of me grabbing any old crap food when I’m hungry. Even though I had completely dropped eating fast food while I lived in California, out here I seem to be hitting Wendys and Taco Bell on an alarming basis. Where I’m staying, there just aren’t any good places to eat. There’s also no Whole Food, Costco, or other grocery store within reach, and not to mention I’m living in a hotel. I do have a small fridge and microwave, but no kitchen or anything resembling a kitchen.

So anyways, both of these meal types have been leaving me feeling like crap. My sleeping is screwed up, my body is tired, and I have that fast food addiction going on – even though I know the food tastes like crap, makes me feel like crap, and I’ll regret eating it, I still have urges for it.

So anyways, I’ve been looking at myself in the mirror a lot lately and I think I’m ready for some changes. Hotel or not, I’m going to figure out a way to get some daily exercise, and I’m going to start being very meticulous about what I eat – trying to get back to more whole grains, vegetables, and minimize the cheese, pasta, and endless carbs that seem to dot the Chicago landscape. I felt so good when I was eating chicken and brown rice 6 months ago, I want to get back to that.

So anyways, here’s my first post on the subject. The weight isn’t going to fall off all by itself. I need to put some effort into it, and I think I’m finally ready to start.

This weekend I’ll probably take some “before” pictures, and maybe try to find a gym with a swimming pool.