Weight Loss Weigh In Was I Naughty Over Christmas??

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas this year.  We had a beautiful day.  The weather was as near perfect as one can expect this time a year.  By that of coarse I mean there wasn't a foot of snow on the ground!  We had the traditional turkey dinner with sides of stuffing and mashed potatoes.  In diet speak I guess you could describe our dinner as "turkey and carbs".

After all of the festivities of the holiday seasons, I suppose there must come that day of reckoning.  Boy, I dreaded stepping on the scale.  This post is somewhat late not just because I was so busy for the holidays, but also because I dreaded stepping on that scale.  If you click the link, you will see a short video of whether I was going on the diet good or naughty list:

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

Weight Loss Update Good News and Bad News

Well winter is picking up steam here in Michigan.  The water on the lake is in a constant battle between freezing and thawing.  In my linked video you can see it.  Of coarse the ground alternates day to day from white to green, and Christmas lights twinkle through the neighborhood at night.

Today is my Week 13 weigh in.  I showed a loss of 2 pounds for the week for a current weight of 286.  In my video I confess to not eating the best this week, but how juicing may have covered up for my wrongs.  I plan to do a future post on my juicing adventures so far.

Hope you all are doing well and are having fun gearing up for the holidays.  Has the holiday cooking/baking bug hit you yet this season??

Juicing For Weight Loss

For an early Christmas present for ourselves, the wife and I bought a Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Pro juice extractor.  I ordered it online from Walmart for $50 which was $10 off the regular price.  For those that may not be familiar with them, it removes the pulp from the juice as opposed to a blender that leaves the pulp in the juice.   Well I have been using my juicer for about a week now and I thought I would share a few thoughts about it.  First, I can say that for $50, the machine can make a great tasting glass of juice.  We started things off by simply juicing some apples and oranges. Wow, it's hard to convey just how good the "home-made" flavor was.  However, we knew we could buy orange/apple juice in the store, so it was time to get serious.  I started adding celery and cucumber along with some carrots into the mix and-----I liked it---a lot.  I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.  I have even went as far as adding such healthy greens like kale, spinach, and broccoli into the mix along with fruits like grapefruit and mangoes.  To me the fun part is experimenting with different ingredients to see how each one can change the overall taste of the final product.

I have used the juice in two ways so far.  First, sometimes just as a drink that tastes good with or without a meal.  I figure at least I am getting a lot of nutrients that I would not have gotten before.  Here I must repeat because I am often asked this...yes the juice tastes good.  Many people (myself at first) cannot believe that fruit and vegetable juice mixed together tastes good.  It honestly does taste good.  Second, I use the juice as a replacement for a meal every so often.  A tall glass or two can easily take the place of a meal and not leave me feeling hungry, but rather feeling proud that I am doing something easy and enjoyable that is helping me lose weight.

Check out my videos and let me know what you think.  Is juicing for you?  Is it something you are thinking about trying?  I love your comments...

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

     Well it's that time of year.  The Christmas season is in full swing in our house.  Favorite Christmas tunes are loaded in the stereo.  Candles are filling the house with scents of the holiday.  We have decorated the tree (tiny as it is) and are starting to wrap gifts.  There are more days with snow on the ground than not.  I have even enjoyed a little eggnog.  These things are the same as in years past, however, there are some changes recently.  As the holiday baking bug has hit me, I have made an apple pie and several pumpkin pies.  What a difference, though, from last year.  In times past one of my pies would have been consumed before the day was over.  Now with everyone in the house trying (to various degrees) to lose weight, every pie has had pieces left over until tossed.  It is amazing how far a pie can go when just diet friendly (meaning real small) pieces are taken.  I have to say I am pretty proud of my self restraint because pumpkin pie is definitely a temptation for me!
     The wife and I just treated ourselves to an early Christmas present of a juicer machine.  In addition, we have also ordered a weight bench and weights.  As this year slowly comes to a close, I have high hopes for the new  year.  I think we have started to build some momentum on this weight loss journey.  Although we are often warned to never say never, I don't see myself wanting to go back to my old ways of eating. I really feel quite content eating more sensibly.  Everything I eat now is viewed in terms of whether it is good or bad for my weight loss journey.  In times past when I overate, I did so with a cocky attitude of indifference.  I just didn't care-isn't that sad??  I really made a mess of "me".  Now I am paying the price for those careless decisions.  Anyways, I think next year may be my year!   I want to get to my goal of being at least not so fat!!  Do you have any tips for some cool gifts this year?

Weight Loss Update Sorry readers...

Sorry readers, but I must confess I have been withholding from you!   Have I been eating through my secret stash of Snickers bars?  Have I been bingeing on bread, potatoes, or peanut butter???  No, but I would like to.  ;-)  No, actually I have been withholding information.  Not on purpose mind you, but totally inadvertently and innocently.  You see, this is a weight loss blog, but I don't often talk about my weight.  Here.  All this information is posted on my Youtube channel and I talk about it ad nauseum on my videos.  I simply didn't want to be redundant here.   However, it has just started dawning on me that many of my readers here don't watch my videos, and many of my viewers on YT don't read me here.  So I need to make it a point to keep my weight loss blog updated about my weight!!!  And I intend to.  Maybe I will get around to getting one of those cute counters for the blog, but for now I will cut and paste a table from my YT channel.  As always I appreciate you spending a little of your time with me and I always enjoy your comments.
                               
Date        Weight     Weekly Gain/Loss            Total Gain/Loss
9/11/11      311            

9/18/11      307               -4                                       -4

9/25/11      305               -2                                       -6

10/2/11      300               -5                                       -11

10/9/11      297               -3                                       -14

10/16/11    295               -2                                       -16

10/23/11    294               -1                                       -17

10/30/11    294                0                                       -17

11/6/11      291               -3                                       -20  

11/13/11    291                0                                       -20

11/20/11    290               -1                                       -21

11/27/11    292               2                                        -19

12/4/11      288               -4                                       -23

Weight Loss - It Takes Guts

It does take guts.  I mean this whole internet weight loss thing.  If you are one of us that writes a blog or shoots videos for YouTube, you know what I'm talking about.  Yesterday, I was talking to a close friend that is starting along their weight loss journey.  They were ready to talk about everything diet related but absolutely didn't want to say where they were at weight wise- not even talk about a specific number for a goal.  At first, I thought they were joking, but they were not going to get into specifics.  Well that is fine and I wish them all the luck in the world, but without some form of accountability, I think your chances of sticking to this are pretty slim.  To me, being so secretive seems so strange when one is used to the stark sharing that is everywhere in our weight loss community.  In fact, they couldn't believe I make videos and talk about my weight and the struggles of losing it.  Well yeah, it does take guts, and at first it was very uncomfortable especially for me because I have always been so shy.  However, now, I wouldn't want to try to do this journey without the help and accountability I get from all of you.  So, if you are out there blogging day after day, or making videos week after week about your weight, chin up and hold your head high and be proud because it does take guts and I am rooting for you all the way!!!

BTW, anyone like Kielbasa and Sauerkraut??

Juicing - Jumping on the Bandwagon

I'm jumping on the bandwagon-sort of.  You see we bought a juicer yesterday.  There have been people in the YouTube weight loss community that have gotten huge weight losses by juicing.  There are guys that have lost over 100 pounds at a rate of one pound a day.  However, in order to post such huge losses, they have been on juice-only fasts.  Now, I really like the taste of the juice, but I can honestly say I do not have the willpower to go on a juice only fast for much more than a day LOL.  In addition, I don't think that would be a good plan for me long term either.  Even if I could stay on the fast (which there is no way I could) I am afraid once I quit the fast, the weight would creep back on.  I am much more comfortable and confident in the smaller portions and lifestyle change method that I have adopted.  The reality is though, I think juicing for a meal several times throughout the week, is something that will aide and not hinder me while on this journey.  In addition, I can see a lot of good in the fact of getting nutrients from the juice of fruits and vegetables I would never ordinarily be eating.  So far all I can say is that the machine is very easy to use and it does a good job.  I plan to use it for a few days and will let you know how it goes.  Anyways, have you ever tried a juicer?  I would love to hear of your experience with it.  Is juicing something you would consider?  Maybe you know of someone that has tried juicing.  Maybe you think it is plain stupid.  Whatever the case let me know what you think.  I really value your input!!!

Weight Loss Update - Ups and Downs

I'm starting to realize there will indeed be ups and down along this weight loss journey.  Sometimes seemingly without rhyme or reason.  My Sunday weight in after Thanksgiving showed a gain of two pounds for the week.  I thought this seemed high as I had really tried to watch portions on Thanksgiving and didn't think I had went crazy.  Hey, this was the first year I didn't make stuffing!! (As an aside, the no stuffing was per a request from my wife who is trying to lose also.  For the record, I love stuffing and think I could have ate some and been alright.  I honored her request but really missed having stuffing.  I think she needs to work on her willpower and let those of us who have some willpower enjoy our stuffing on Thanksgiving.  She doesn't read this blog so I can say that LOL!!)  So back to the story at hand, they say you can't argue with the scale and it is what it is.  A two pound gain when I had tried to hard didn't seem quite right, but I decided to keep on forging ahead regardless. (You can see it here I'm not happy about the gain.    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhKaZeV7rtI     Well by mid-week I got on the scale to see I had reversed the two pounds and also lost two additional pounds. (YAY!!!)   While   we all love happy endings to our stories, I wanted to wait until my next weight in to be sure before I declared it for a fact.  So, I am thrilled to report that for whatever reason I have in fact lost the two I gained and an additional two which brings me to my lowest since starting my journey.  For anyone who is curious I started 9/11/11 at 311 and 12 weeks later I am 288 so a loss of 23 pounds.  Compared to those that are dieting hard like juice fasting etc. this is a tiny loss.  However, for me who is simply eating the same as always minus bread and less pasta, and just eating smaller portions, this is a big victory in my book.  I am happy with the results and plan to keep on going!!!  Here is my happier mid week video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi0KomAFrxE   I suppose the only way I can reconcile this is that it was water weight due to eating salty foods over Thanksgiving.  I hope you all are doing well!!  I hope to make it around to read all of your blogs soon.