More Energy, More Progress, More Motivation

I weighed yesterday for the local Home Depot "Biggest Loser" and I am excited that I can report that I weigh 287 (286.8) pounds. I can attribute that to many things, but here is a partial list:

1) I am drinking only water (and an occasional cup of coffee). Let me tell you, going without Diet Coke was extremely challenging for the first few days, but I am over it, and it is helping with the finances as well.

2) I have kept my portions (and therefore, calories) under control. I have even gone as far as figuring my Base Metabolic Rate and subtracting 1,000 calories from that to get my daily calorie allotment. If you take in 1,000 calories less than you burn each day, at the end of 7 days, you will have a deficit of 7,000 calories, or two pounds.

3) I am exercising on the bike for a longer duration. I had a bike ride of 45 minutes on Friday since I had pizza at our food day at work. I survived, and I will now be able to go for longer.

4) I am focusing on what I can do, not on what I cannot do. I have long been a disciple of positive mental attitudes, but seeing that come to a productive fruition is rewarding, to say the least.

5) I haven't eaten out for a few weeks. This allows me to control the calories and portions without leaving it to somebody else.

6) I have become extremely focused on intake and calories burned. I have set up a spreadsheet that calculates to the tenths how many calories I ingest and expend. Numbers don't lie and I like the truth that they are reporting.

Have a great day, the book outline is done and should be complete by summer.

It's March, Can Spring Be Far Behind?

Okay, it has been over five weeks since I was on here, and I weighed 304 pounds. I wasn't really all that fired up about it, but there has been some change lately. I have been doing a lot of soul-searching lately and plenty of research and picking up ideas from other areas.

Now I am motivated.

I started in earnest on Ash Wednesday. Now, let it be know that I am not Catholic, but since I have been 18, I have given up something during Lent (which represents 40 days (minus Sundays) of the Passover). There were times that I have given up meat. There were times that I have given up dessert. These were fine, but it usually vexed my parents because my birthday is during Lent and they like to have dinner, along with a cake, on my birthday.

This year it is soda. I don't drink the sugared ones, I have always had a taste for diet, be it Tab, Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, Diet Dr. Pepper, Diet 7-Up, etc. I realize that although there isn't sugar, the carbonation affects the calcification of your bones and can make them more brittle as you age. It also costs money.

Since Ash Wednesday, I have become a bit more anal in that I put everything onto a spreadsheet that I put into my mouth. I figured by BMR (base metabolic rate) and how many calories I would need to ingest in order to lose 2 pounds a week.

I have stuck with that.

I weighed on the scale at my day job this morning and I am down to 294! To many of you, that still makes me morbidly obese, but I also exercise at least three times a week, and my pants are not as tight as they were.

I also have begun a book about this that will share tips for others to lose weight and achieve their goals as well.

More on that as it develops.

I hope that you are having success, and if I can be of any assistance, you can always post on here and I will get the message (or I am on Twitter at philippwilson or email at philippwilson@aol.com).

Have a GREAT day!