“Don’t Waste Food”

I have a strong desire not to waste food. I’m pretty sure the roots come from my parents who were born during the Great Depression. Growing up, we didn’t waste food in my house. If we didn’t eat it the day it was prepared, we would have to eat it the next day.

I had five older brothers and sisters. When I was younger, I always had the feeling that I needed to eat as much as I could so that I could get as much as could before it was gone. Did I mention that I am addicted to food?

I was a restaurant manager for several years and wasted food equaled wasted money. I hated seeing food go to waste.

Then after I got married it was my own family and my money that was spent on food. A big portion of my budget went (and still goes) to food.

Because of this, I would eat others leftovers. I would eat it rather than throw it away – so that it wouldn’t go to waste! It did, however, go to my waist! Then as my weight problem continued to get worse, I would eat all of something one day (like a whole bag of chips or box of cookies) in order to avoid being tempted to eat it the next day. How sick is that!?
It has been a struggle for me this month to stop eating when I’m full, or to not eat everyone’s leftovers when they were full.

I have found a couple things that have helped: portion control and eating slower.
By only preparing what I should eat for each meal, I avoid leftovers. Plus portioning food also lets me feel like I’ve accomplished the task of cleaning my plate. My mother would be so proud.

Eating slower has some wonderful side effects. It helps me really enjoy my food, and helps me to be more satisfied after a meal. I have found that when I am full, food does not taste as good. By eating too quickly, I lose that delightful initial sensation that really good tasting food gives – much faster than necessary.

Here is an example. My family and I went out to dinner at Old Chicago to have pizza to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. I planned ahead and decided that instead of eating half a pizza I would only have two slices. When the pizza came, I took the two slices and set them on my plate. Then I used my fork to cut small pieces. I ate every bite slowly and deliberately. The sensation of the flavors was wonderful. By the time I had finished the second piece, I was entirely satisfied. Pizza is probably my favorite food in the world. That was the first time, in a long time, that I remember enjoying it that much.

Ho, Ho, Holy Crap!

This week I was kicking myself for starting a weight loss program during the holidays. I have eaten so much stuff that I know I shouldn't have eaten. However (and this is a big "however"), I have lost over 20 pounds in the three weeks I've been on the program (394 lbs as of 12-7). Sure I could have probably been better and lost more, but that is pretty good! Plus that gives me a head start over the droves of people that are going to resolve to lose weight in the new year.

This has also shed some light on how I would have normally eaten this time of year - Ho, Ho, Holy Crap! I can't believe how much garbage I used to consume. I really want this change to be permanent.

Before Pictures - 415 lbs

Every month I am on this plan, I will try and post my progress photos. To start the ball rolling, here is me as of Thanksgiving 2008 (415 lbs).

Week One

Week one of the new 5+1 weight loss program ...

Sunday: Not a problem. Really. I was motivated, and I wasn’t hungry. My meals and dinner tasted good. No worries.

Monday: Some of the new food didn’t taste so good, but overall it was okay. I am going to the bathroom every 30 minutes. I must have lost five pounds of water. There were Christmas cookies and candy for the staff meeting, but I wasn’t even tempted.

Tuesday: I had a headache all day. At my lunch meeting there were brownies (which happens to be my favorite dessert), but I still abstained. In the afternoon, I heard someone eating potato chips; I almost lost it. If I would have smelled them, I may have cracked. We had a pretty good dinner and I had my fifth meal as a snack. That ended a hard day on a high note.

Wednesday: Another hard day at work. Every Wednesday at 3:00, at my work, we have “healthy snack.” Well this time, for a reason that escapes me, it was catered with a taco bar (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!). I sat in my cubicle eating one of my meals, wishing it was a taco. This is getting harder. On a high note, however, I have lost 11 pounds since my visit to the doctor.

Thursday: My wife’s work Christmas party. Dinner at a fancy restaurant. I did pretty well. I didn’t stick to the plan – exactly, but I ordered small portions of healthy food, and only nibbled at the stuff I should stay away from.

Friday: Today was HARD! I WANT DORITOS! Alas, I choked down my meat and veggies for dinner, and tamed the tiger by eating Frank’s Red Hot Sauce – with a spoon, for a snack. It put me way over on sodium for the day, but it didn’t add any calories. It kept the tiger at bay.

Saturday: I would say I totally blew it today, but compared to how I usually eat – I was actually pretty good. I had a couple slices of homemade pizza, a few cookies, and some crackers. Fortunately I have planned for a few slip-ups along the way (especially the first month). I plan on getting right back on the program in the morning.

Prolog:
It’s so funny how addicted I am to food (that’s “funny”: weird – not “funny”: Ha ha). I was so gung-ho at the beginning of the week, and by Friday I was ready to eat myself into a coma. I wasn’t hungry, but the cravings were so overwhelming.

The good news is that Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday weren’t that bad. I have stayed on plan and I felt pretty good about myself. I still get the cravings, but I remind myself that I am really not hungry – because I’m not. I just hope the weekends get easier.

Trigger:
I have found that if I am not watching television, it is much easier to stay on the plan than when I do watch it. I have eaten in front of the T.V. for so many years that the Pavlovian response kicks in when the power comes on. It’s going to take a lot of positive self-talk and support to overcome this. Maybe I will just watch less television, and find something more constructive to do (again, history is not on my side here).

My 10 Reasons

Well today wasn’t easy, but I made it. I think weekends are going to be harder than the more structured weekdays.

I read the instruction book today. It said to come up with 10 reasons to lose weight to help keep me motivated. Here is my initial list:

10 reasons to lose weight

I want to …

1. have an overall sense of well being
2. be there to help my family when they need me
3. enjoy my empty nest years with my wife
4. be around long enough to see my grandchildren get married
5. be able to have my kidney stone blasted
6. go to an event without worrying about how wide the seat is
7. sleep better (and allow others around me to sleep better)
8. get off my fat man medications
9. buy clothes that look good on me, not just fit
10. be able to tie my shoes with my pants fastened, run and feel the sun and fresh air in my face, take the stairs without needing 5 minutes to catch my breath, save money on medical bills, qualify for life insurance, ...

Okay, technically that was more than 10. Given that I've only thought about this for the last 20 years, this is a pretty good start.

A Month's Worth of Food

The food for my first month of breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, lunch, and after-lunch came yesterday. I never thought I could carry a month's worth of food without even breaking a sweat. As long as it keeps me from being hungry, tastes good enough, and helps me lose weight rapidly, I'm okay with the small portions. I am excited. I want to start tomorrow instead of the first, so I will. Except for Thanksgiving Day, I didn't get too crazy with overeating. This is it, I can do it! My wife is doing it with me so I have her support. My kids know about it and they are okay with it (for now). I hope my children don't freak out when they find out what dinners are going to be like for a little while. Bwa! Ha! Ha! Ha!

A Fat Man's beginnings (in a nutshell)

I have been fat since the third grade. I am the youngest of 6 children, and I am the youngest by 8 years. I was treated like an only child (only I had several other role models around who loved to eat). I was very difficult to please when it came to food; I would rarely eat anything healthy. Why should I? Both my parents worked so I was home most of the time for a couple hours after school -- unsupervised. My mother would make sure I had breakfast, but I would often skip lunch and spend the money on candy on the way home from school. This also meant I was often very hungry after school. I would get home and eat a whole package of crackers with peanut butter or regular butter while I watched cartoons. There were always snacks in the house (mostly because I went shopping with my mom and would talk my mom into purchasing the snacks for me). My father worked for a local Pepsi distributor, so there was always soda in the house as well.

This was in the 70's. The only reason to avoid snacks back then was because the sugar would cause cavities. It wasn't until the late 70's when there started to be a fitness movement here in thee U.S. I was in the fifth grade when my teachers got together a bunch of us fat kids and started a fitness group after school. Now as I said, this was only the beginning of the fitness craze, and nutrition and health education was in its infancy. There was a lot of advice coming from all different directions. A lot of it would sound ridiculous by today's health standards, but it was all we had to go by.

I was fairly active as a child. I walked to school every day; I had physical education classes that were very rigorous; I was in tae kwan do for a little while; I worked on my brother's pop truck for a summer; I would exercise intermittently throughout my childhood. Even though I was involved in all this, I had no nutritional sense.

I was fat until my senior year of high school. At the end of my junior year I was in a dance program every day for a few months. Having that activity and being around girls all the time gave me the will power I needed to lose weight. I became strong and healthy. I dropped ten inches off my waist and didn't have to shop at the fat man's stores anymore. I felt great! My senior year was awesome. I had a girl friend; I got to wear cool clothes; I felt great. But once I achieved my goal, I fell back into my old habits and eating the comfortable foods that I have grown up loving.

I loved food so much that I went to cooking school so we could spend more time together. I remained fat, but was still very active. Cooking is hot, and there is a lot of physical activity. I worked for several years in the restaurant business until I worked myself into a position where I could create recipes for a small restaurant chain. With a combination of limited activity and trying new foods all the time, I went from 290 lbs to 370 lbs in less than 2 years. When the chain broke up and I went back to work as a restaurant manager, I dropped a little weight for about a year.

In 2000 the restaurant I was working for went belly up. I decided to quit the restaurant business go back to college. I worked in manufacturing for about 4 years and walked to school to keep my weight constant around 340 lbs. I tried a popular no-carb diet that worked for a little while, until I ended up in the emergency room with a diverticulitis. I was in a tremendous amount of pain, and decided that I needed a more balanced diet. It wasn't until the holidays that year that I really lost my head. I got my taste for sugar back, and I didn't want to let go.

When I quit my manufacturing job in 2004 to sit in front of a computer all day as a software engineer, I started to balloon up quickly. So in January 2005 I entered a weight loss program where I lost 40 lbs by March. I was feeling pretty good about myself. The diet was difficult to maintain. There were only a few things I could eat, and my family was not supportive at all. It wasn't long before I got tired of preparing two dinners every night so that my children would eat. It also didn't help that they would buy party foods nearly every weekend, but my resolve was strong and I really wanted to lose weight. That's when things got frusterating. Even though I was still sticking to the diet, I stopped losing weight for a couple months. Then I started gaining again. I couldn't take it. The conversation in my head went something like this: "I can eat what I want and gain weight." And that is what I did.

Now I am 40 years old. I have a wife and 4 children. most of us struggle with weight problems. I am currently on the fat man trifecta: blood pressure medicine, acid reflux medication, and blood sugar medication. My knees hurt from supporting all this weight, and I have sleep apnea. I have looked into surgery but I have found out something about myself. You see, these surgeries will keep me from being hungry, but if I stopped eating when I was full, I wouldn't be so fat. No I realize now that I am addicted to food. I will need real support and self motivation if I am going to break this addiction.

I may have found my motivation. I now weigh 415 lbs. I have a kidney stone that is about the size of a hazelnut that frequently causes great pain. I met with my urologist on this week and he said I needed to lose 150 pounds before they can do anything but risky surgery to break up the stone. Coincidentally, I had already committed to attend a meeting for a new weight loss programs that practically guarantees dramatic weight loss. I feel like this is my last hope. I believe I am in a place where I can do it this time. I haven't found real pleasure in food for a long time; I need something that is simple and tastes "good enough," and I believe I have found it; I have the support of my family this time (hopefully); I work for a company that puts a great deal of emphasis on health.

I am so confident that this is the time that will be the one, that I am starting it during the holidays. Monday, December 1, 2008 is the day when it all starts for me. I am going to keep track of my progress here. Pray for me or wish me luck (whatever is more comfortable for you).