Stalled weight loss progress can be so frustrating

The most frustrating part of trying to lose weight is questioning every little thing you do (and don't do), especially when you hit plateaus that never seem to end. That's where I am right now. Totally frustrated. I have tried every tip in the book, from cutting out all added sugars and the obvious reducing calories to increasing calories, having a cheat day, and exercising regularly. I'm still at 396 pounds, stuck after losing 30 pounds directly following a big lifestyle change - cutting out fast food entirely from my diet.

Today I go to the doctor, and within a week or so I'll have some stats come back from bloodwork. We'll see if there's some hidden info there. My endocrinologist wants to order some tests, too, so I'll give that a go. But I have a feeling I'm missing something. And I think what I'm missing is I'm not getting 10,000 steps a day. I'm stalling out at around 6,500. I have a gut feeling that getting my steps up to the 10,000-step recommended daily allowance will get my weight loss started again.

So that is my goal today. To get stepping. It's hard to do, especially on my day off when I try to Uber as much as I can and just chill out for the rest of the time watching random crap on Amazon Prime or YouTube. But I'm going to do it today, for sure. That's my goal and I'm sticking to it. What will tomorrow bring? I don't know. I'm doing this one step at a time.

How {NOT} to stay on track with your fit and healthy lifestyle

Most bloggers in the fitlife, fitspiration, and weight loss communities have posts telling you how to stay on track with your fit and healthy lifestyle. I probably do, too. Several in fact. These posts are written in the thick of it, when reading others' advice has turned you into a matra-spewing weight loss and fitspiration guru in your own mind. But how many have a how {NOT} to stay on track with your fit and healthy lifestyle post?

Here's mine.

How {NOT} to stay on track with your fit and healthy lifestyle

1. Do not control your portions sizes. Eyeball that shit and eat whatever the fuck you want.

2. Do not pack a lunch to go to work. Starve yourself all day, while you're at your highest level of activity and stress, and then make up for those calories when you get off work, driving from drive-thru to drive-thru until you've stuffed your bad thoughts deeply enough under the surface to survive walking through your own front door and engaging with friends or family.

3. Do not engage in elevated or intensified movement or activity, a.k.a. "exercise", for 20 minutes per day. This may cause you to lose weight, maintain a healthy weight, and inadvertently reduce your risk of heart attack, type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases, thus extending your life*.

4. Do not reduce or stop consumption of heavy, yeasty, and malty craft beers as a pastime, as this will also reduce your intake of added sugars. Also, you may want to start smoking pot, as this will help you increase your desire for highly sweetened, salty and fatty foods, which as a trifecta are your best friends in {NOT} staying on track with your fit and healthy lifestyle.

5. Most importantly, commit yourself to eating the cheapest food possible, so you can eat a lot more of it. Eat alone at a buffet restaurant at least a few times a week**. In most moderate-sized towns, you can find a steakhouse buffet, a Chinese buffet and at least one other ethnic buffet (ie. Indian, Italian, etc.). Make use of these resources to ensure your fit lifestyle will cease.

Thanks for reading this bullshit. Now go do some squats, get to bed early and wake up in time to get some physical activity in before work! (Don't forget to hydrate...and food is fuel, not your friend!)

*Be advised that extending one's lifespan is often a direct result of staying on track with a fit and healthy lifestyle.

**Eating alone all but ensures you will be able to eat much more than you would with others watching and judging you.

Unlike trails I hike, my fit life journey's map is but outlined in my dreams

Yesterday, as I was transferring files from one computer to another, I spent about seven hours going through old photos and videos recounting my fit life journey. I hadn't looked at many of these in a few years, and I was a bit shocked at what I looked like when I was at my low weight of 255 pounds.

Before my fit life journey began at 420+ pounds, August 2009

After 18 months and 165-pound weight loss, at 255 pounds

I looked like a different person! The round face and body curves were all but gone. And even more, when I watched myself talk in vlogs (that were never posted) I remembered instantly what I was thinking and feeling (and not saying) in them. I was saying these happy things with my mouth, but as I would catch a glimpse of myself on the screen while recording a sort of sad wash would come over my demeanor, if only for a moment, as I realized I really wasn't connecting with the image my thinner self was projecting.

After nearly 165 pounds of weight loss, with mom and dad, August 2011

Healthy. Hopeful. But lost.

When I gained back 65 of the 165 pounds I'd fought so hard to lose, I once again recognized myself. And while I found comfort in this familiarity, the joy I'd felt when I was becoming that healthy and hopeful self faded as my round face and curvy body returned.

Over the past two years since the re-gain, I've struggled to get started with a new round of weight loss. I want to get down to 255 pounds again - and in fact I want to achieve my original goal of getting down to 225 pounds to completely overcome obesity once and for all - and I know how to do it. Getting started I can do. But sticking to a new regime for more than a month is proving incredibly difficult.

Tomorrow is my 44th birthday, and birthdays for me are always a good time to become motivated to make change. So here it is again. I'm setting a goal for myself to lose 65 pounds over the course of the next year. When I turn 45 I will celebrate my accomplishment. And when I am 50 I will celebrate five years of having kept the weight off.

To get started, I need to put a framework to my goals, reasons why accomplishing this weight loss is important to me. So here goes, these are the 10 things I want to result from losing weight and regaining the fitness I'd fought so hard to achieve a few years ago:

1. I want to extend my probable years of mobility and stave off preventable disease by being kinder to my body.
2. I want to wear clothes again - regular sized clothes, like XL, not 2XL or 3XL - without feeling like I'm pushing their limits.
3. I want to go to the waterpark and not be turned away from the best waterslides because of my weight.
4. I want to feel light on my feet and reduce the strain on my ankles, knees and hips.
5. I want to be able to hike the highest mountains without having to slow down just to catch my breath.
6. I want to ride my bike for miles and miles.
7. I want to kayak without fear.
8. I want to speed through the forest canopy on zip-lines with my friends.
9. I want to be healthy and capable for my parents as they grow older
10. I want to live a life that is not obsessed with filling my body but instead one that is happy because I'm fueling it.

Unlike the trails I hike, my fit life journey's map is but outlined in my dreams

Self image is a powerful contributor to motivation for anyone, and for me especially I think. Honestly, I don't like the way I look when I get under about 280 pounds. But I need to do it for reasons that transcend self image. Just as before, I will be blogging about my journey. I do this not only as a journal to myself so that I can keep track of my progress but also because I find I am energized spurred on toward my goals by the collective support weight loss and fit life community. This is crucial. As such, I want to thank any of you in advance for reading and encouraging me along the way. THANK YOU!!! 

NOTE: Hey #fitfam! Please follow me on Instagram @fitlifechronicles and Twitter @myfitlife2day. 

Tracking my way to success: This is why I use MyFitnessPal

Weight loss and healthy weight management can feel like such a chore if you're one of those, like me, who seeks out food whenever the going gets tough. My mantra throughout my 165-pound weight loss a few years ago was simple: Food is food, not your friend! So that's why I'm glad there's a tool like MyFitnessPal - it is THE quintessential food-is-fuel tool!

For me, MyFitnessPal is perfect, because I have four things I like to track as I'm working toward achieving weight loss success, and MyFitnessPal helps me track them all - for free!

First and foremost, I track my water intake. Hydration is the keystone to staying on track. I drink the typical eight glasses of water a day, but I drink five extra - one glass for every twenty pounds I need to lose. My goal is to lose 100 pounds in 2014, so I log 13 glasses of water every day.

Tracking portion size and calories can be a chore - not with MyFitnessPal!

Second, I track my portion size and calories. Portion size is tricky, but tracking healthy portions on MyFitnessPal is a snap. All the foods I eat are easily searchable, so I can log my food intake immediately and not have to worry about forgetting to do it later. I use the website as well as the app on my smartphone, and they sync my info so I don't have to!

Third, I track my exercise. My goal is 60 minutes of cardio per day and four days of strength training. Sometimes I conveniently forget whether yesterday was a workout day or not, but with MyFitnessPal I have a constant reminder and proof of what I did.

Tracking my exercise helps me make sure I give myself credit for hard work!

Finally, I track my measurements. Sure, I weigh myself and log that. But sometimes pounds don't come off as quickly as I'd like, but maybe I have a success in waist size. That's a win, too, and I want to be aware of how far I've come as I make my way toward my fitness goals.

If you're on a weight loss and fitness journey as I am, please feel free to friend me on MyFitnessPal so we co-motivate each other. I'm Fitness400. On Instagram I'm fitlifechronicles. And on Twitter I'm myfitlife2day.

"Those who forget their history...": Looking back on my fitness journey

Snowed in like much of the Northeast today, I'm sitting here at my HP TouchSmart 9100 watching Project Runway on Hulu and looking through a file of pictures called "going down", progress pics I took of my dramatic weight loss a couple of years ago. If you read yesterday's post, you know I've gained back 70 pounds of the 165 pounds I had lost. As of the New Year, I have become once again focused on fitness and healthy living.

Today, as I go through these pics seeking some inspiration, I am amazed at how different I look at my various plateau weights, from 420 to 255 and everywhere in between. And honestly, I am taken aback at myself that I actually prefer the way I look at the heavier weights, between 270 and 290.

Looking back at my low weight of 255, I feel I looked good, more healthy in fact. But my face seems unfamiliar to me now, and I remember it did at the time the pics were taken, too. This means I have a preference for my heavier image, which could be why psychologically it is easy for me to put on weight. Fortunately, since I know the true root of this preference, I believe I will be able to remain conscious of it throughout my weight loss this time around. This is not about image, after all, its about health and fitness.

So, without further ado, here are a few of the plateau progress pics as well as a current pic. A brief description of the moment of time each pic was taken is included. Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think of the images as well as the concept of weight preference as it relates to self image and prescriptive weight loss.

Reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", Hollywood, FL, September 2009

420 lbs.: The above pic shows me as I was reaching my max weight. Can you tell I wore a 6XL shirt? People always told me I "carried the weight well", but shirt size doesn't lie. The fall of 2009 was difficult for me. I lost my job in Philadelphia and moved back to South Florida, about a hundred pounds heavier than when I'd left. While looking for work, I was working from home as a translator. I remember trying to go for walks, and I would barely get to the end of my block before feeling I needed to sit down. I was unable to find work in my field, so in a bold move in January of 2010 I convinced a local pub manager to hire me as a waiter. I'd been a waiter before, and I convinced him I'd be able to handle the work despite the apparent limitations of my size. This forced me to get up every day and walk. I did this all while starting a new healthier diet, which proved to me I had will-power, as I was able to turn away their discounted food even though it was all my favorite fare: meatloaf, bangers and mash, burgers and fries, etc.

Walking the dogs, the exercise that got me started, March 2010

345 lbs.: This me walking the dogs three months into my weight loss journey. Walking my dogs was part of my healthy lifestyle, and I'd lost more than 60 pounds. I was down three shirt sizes, to a 3XL. Until this point, my exercise regime consisted mainly of taking my dogs for walks. I was up to about 10 miles per week, done in two-mile increments five times a week at my local dog park. This is also just around the time I started working out at Island City Fitness in Fort Lauderdale.

Feeling fly in my first non-big-and-tall outfit in many years, May 2010

325 lbs.: Pictured above is me, down 95 pounds from my starting weight and 100 pounds from my goal weight. (This is also the weight I am at currently - see The Truth about 2013). I remember when I reached it going down. I felt amazing. I had just begun shopping at regular stores that carried 2XL. And I had garnered the confidence to go out and interview for better jobs - that's when I was hired as a teacher and coordinator at Miami Dade College. In addition to the walking, I had started biking from my house to the beach and back several times a week and was starting to go to the gym regularly. This is the look of momentum.

Time to hit the gym! Fort Lauderdale, FL, June 2010

310 lbs.: I dropped a lot of weight at the beginning of summer - probably because I upped my exercise just at the height of the South Florida heat. By the time the above pic was taken, in addition to the biking and the walking, I was rollerblading on Sundays and lifting weights at the gym six days per week. I had met a guy at the gym who was impressed by my progress and we started working out together four days per week. Until then I was mostly doing medicine ball exercises various machines in the gym, timid to hit the free weights. He gave me a routine that I pretty much used for the rest of the summer. I was doing four days of resistance training plus core work, and two days that focused on core alone.

Experimenting with fashion, Hollywood, FL, July 2010

300 lbs.: By this time the above pic was taken, I was on auto-pilot. My entire life was enveloped in fitness. I was active six days a week at this point, doing at least two fitness activities daily and three on Sundays. I forced myself to take a day off, and I was good about rotating my exercises to allow muscle groups to rest. I was starting to squeeze into XL clothing and didn't mind if my clothes fit tight. I felt unstoppable.

On the beach one year into my weight loss journey, Hollywood, FL, 2010

270 lbs.: The pic above was my first "after" pic - I had begun my weight loss journey in January of 2010, and this is me at the end of the same year, after losing 150 pounds. To say the least, the results were dramatic. Even the shot above at just 30 pounds heavier shows a marked difference in my face. I was happy with my results, but I remember at this time worrying about looking like someone who "used to be super obese". I couldn't stop talking about my weight loss to everyone I met, so that probably fed into my fears that you could just look at me and tell. 

Showing strength at Rapids Water Park in West Palm Beach, FL, May 2011

255 lbs.: By May of 2011 I had reached the pinnacle of my weight loss. I celebrated with a trip to the water park, here I confidently shucked my shirt and wandered around the park with just my flip flops. I had so much fun doing anything that required strength - at that time I looked for an opportunity to work out wherever I went. I went on several water slides, but I became frustrated when I had to opt out of some of the more exciting rides because the weight cut off was 250 pounds. At just five pounds over the limit I probably would have been okay, but I feared some catastrophe would happen if I were to attempt it, so I abstained from some of the fun. 

Eating out at a Greek restaurant, on a date, Miami, FL, June 2011

260 lbs.: I can't put my finger on the exact moment I made the decision, but after a year and a half of strict adherence to diet, I decided it was time to let go of the reigns a bit. I told myself that a little weight gain was okay - probably because I thought I was starting to look funny, like I had Al Roker face or something. But I remained committed to maintaining my weight loss and kept my weight gain below 275 for more than a year.

Over the course of the next two years a lot changed in my life. I moved from Miami to Boston to Albuquerque to Palm Springs all in search of amazing trails. I was hiking 20+ miles per week, but this was my only exercise during these times of transition. Eventually, the trail led me home to Pennsylvania, and to Philadelphia, where I currently live. I have struggle to find a gym that inspires me like Island City did, and while I am still hiking it's been reduced to about five miles per week. And until two days ago, I had been eating like a pig, which has led me to re-gain 70 pounds that I had worked so hard to take of just two and three years ago.

This guy's committed to fitness in 2014! Catoctin Mountains, MD, Dec. 2013

 To read more about my three-year (to date) fitness journey and what's going on now in my weight loss progress, check out yesterday's post - The Truth about 2013 - and follow me Google+ and Twitter (MyFitLife2Day) and Instagram (FitLifeChronicles).

My weight loss (and fitness) motivation (revisited)

I want to hike the highest mountains. I want my body not to lumber along, but to move through the world with grace. I want to ride my bike great distances without tiring. I want to swim oceans and rivers and not be taken by the currents. I want to climb great rocks. I want to camp on mountaintops.

I want my body to create energy, not only consume it. I want to be fit enough that I may help others in case of emergency. I want to be able to run if I must run. I want to be able to carry those who cannot run to safety on my shoulders. I want my body to be strong well into old age.

I want my feet, my knees, my back and my joints to be happy. I want my cells to be friendly, not fight me. I want not to be a slave to pills and medical procedures. I want health to radiate from within. And most of all, I want my parents to know I value the life I've been given.

Follow on Twitter @MyFitLife2Day and on Instagram @fitlifechronicles

Thanks for reading MyFitLife2Day. For more about what I am doing NOW to overcome obesity once and for all, check out this post. The orginal post - My weight loss motivation - was written in January 2010 when my weight topped 400 pounds. 

Follow me on Twitter @MyFitLife2Day and on Instagram @fitlifechronicles.

Answering "Why I choose weight loss" and "Why I choose Nutrisystem"

I started Nutrisystem for the first time in early January 2010. At that time, one of the counselors I spoke to recommended I write a brief statement about why I was losing weight so that as I achieved incremental goals I would be able to look back on my statement and be edified. Today, after two years of being in a more-or-less maintenance mode (give or take 40 pounds - ugh!), I thought I'd look back on that statement and see what encouragement it could give me. Here is what I wrote:

I want to be able to ride rollercoasters again, feel more comfortable in airplane seats, be able to sit in those tiny chairs on the patios of cafes, not cause the tires in my tiny compact car to wear unevenly, start my 40s in a year and a half with the same healthful optimism with which I started my 20s, let my parents grow older without having to worry about my health, be able to shop for clothes at the mall again, rollerblade without pain again, and dance the night away again without having to sit the next one out! 

Breaking apart the statement goal by goal today, I see that I pretty much achieved every one of them. So why am I re-starting Nutrisystem again now? Well, it's complicated. To make it more comprehensible (to me and to anyone who might be reading this blog for inspiration or sheer curiosity), I should break this question down into its component parts. Why am I choosing to "diet" again? And why have I chosen to go back on Nutrisystem when it's obvious that I am able to lose weight on my own?

First, I'll address reasons why I'm "dieting". Well, to be more precise, I'm not "dieting" but rather "modifying my diet" (but that's for another conversation). And the reason for this is clear. I am currently at a weight that is unhealthy. It's not unhealthy because I say so or because society says so (or even because I am currently experiencing any health problems, as was most definitely the case when I was 420 pounds). But according to the medical community, I have a disease - obesity - and this disease is a precursor to a slew of other chronic and acute disease that I personally would like to avoid.

No one believes me when I tell them, but I am pushing 300 pounds. At 296 pounds, I may "carry it well", but I would rather not have to carry it at all. This weight is hard on my body and limits me in many ways, not the least of which it makes it more difficult for me to pursue my hiking passion, keeping me from doing longer and more strenuous hikes. It also hurts my joints and keeps me from recovering as quickly from injury. I recently twisted my ankle while traversing a rock-strewn trail at the top of Mount Tammany in Northern New Jersey. I was lucky to make it back down. If I had experienced a greater injury, it would've take five or six big guys to carry me down.

For more on why I want to lose weight, check out the related blog post: My weight loss (and fitness) motivation (revisited). For now, though, I'll get to why I'm kickstarting this next phase of my weight loss journey with Nutrisystem. See, the first time around I lost around 80 pounds on Nutrisystem and another 85 pounds on my own; Having learned from Nutrisystem's portion and calorie control I was able to piece together a plan using regular grocery store foods that worked quite well for me (until I decided after 18 months of rigorous attention to my diet to ease up a bit and began enjoying ice cream and other treats again in a less than moderate manner). But now that I'm out of practice, Nutrisystem will help me relearn healthy portions and develop a more regulated eating pattern.

On Nutrisystem I will eat six times per day - three meals per day and snacks about two hours after each meal. The plan is based on science, creating by nutritionists. It is balanced and does not keep me from eating the kinds of foods I truly enjoy. In fact, some of their meals are quite tasty. The cost is about $260 per month (for the men's plan that I'm on), and this includes five prepackaged foods - each meal plus two snacks daily  (one of the snacks is on your own, such as yogurt or nuts) - as well as access to amazing tools that track your food and water intake and allow you to log your exercise. There is also a very active online community where you can get inspiration from others who are likewise on a weight loss and fitness journey of their own.

At that price, you have to eat what they send you. For $20 more, you get to choose what you want. It's worth it for some, but since saving money is another objective of mine, I just choose to enjoy what I get. After all, "It's your decisions, not the conditions of your life, that determine your destiny", as the great motivational communicator Anthony Robbins would say.

Today is the first day of being on the Nutrisystem plan, and I have to tell you I am pumped. I know Nutrisystem works for me, and I know that even though I will begin to feel hunger between eating events, I know that's a good thing. My stomach will begin shrinking and I'll begin to shed weight, probably quite quickly the first week and more steadily after that. I can take comfort that even though I'm feeling hunger, it's a good thing, and it will only bother me for a couple of weeks.


So that's really why I'm doing this. Hunger is a way of my body telling me it's time to eat. In our society we tend to eat simply because there is an abundance of food. But in a few weeks my new habits will take hold and my eating habits will carry me on auto pilot to finally achieving my goal of overcoming obesity once and for all.



Thanks for reading MyFitLife2Day. Follow me on Twitter @MyFitLife2Day and on Instagram @fitlifechronicles.

Weighing pros and cons, giving Nutrisystem weightloss another go!

My weight-loss journey has been a struggle lately. Culture shock. Lost luggage. Forgetting wear home is. Aimlessly trekking through the world of #fitspo and #fitfam social media. When I'm exercising, I'm not eating right. When I'm eating right, I'm not exercising. I wouldn't say the train has jumped the track. It's just that I just seem to be out of synch with myself. It's time to regain control!

The train hasn't jumped the track - yet - but it's time to regain control!

Today I made a decision to go back to basics; I ordered a month's supply of Nutrisystem, since that's how I initially got on track with my eating habits, learned about portion control and how to include a variety of healthy, nutritious foods into my diet.

I've been on the fence about ordering for quite some time now, mostly because Nutrisystem does not focus on organic, non-GMO whole foods, and I would like to. But I realize that my weight has steadily increased over the course of the past year, and if I don't take drastic measures I may lose control of the degree of healthy weight management I have been able to maintain after losing more than 150 pounds a few years ago. So I bit the bullet and submitted my order just moments ago.

Immediately I downloaded the app, which I'm excited about, since when I was following the program before I didn't have a phone that support the app. Now that I do, I plan on taking full advantage of it, logging my food intake on the go rather than writing things down and logging them at the end of the day.

FYI - My goals are the same as ever. I will work toward losing fat while building muscle in order to get my weight under 227 pounds, which is the cutoff for obesity according to my height. My aim is to achieve this by losing 70 pounds within seven months - April 2014.

When I started my journey at 420 pounds, I was alone. But as I reached my low weight point at 255 pounds, I was flush with friends and followers. I'm hoping that as I get back on track, I will reconnect with some of the folks I have lost touch with over the course of the past year or so. To regain some of that momentum once again, I plan to get more active on Twitter @MyFitLife2Day again, and I'll be using my Instagram account - @fitlifechronicles - more purposefully as well. I know me, and I will need encouragement from others as I continue my journey. If I'm lucky, I hope to inspire others as well as I regain control and continue my fitlife journey toward health, healing and longevity.