Biffster’s WeightJournal.com

Current weight: 308.6
Difference from last entry: -1.4
Difference from 2009 starting weight (316.6): -8

Show notes:

Lost a bit this week. Yay!

Mother’s Day was a problem, but I had been good enough during the week to minimize the damage.

Hydroxycut is in the news, reminds me of phen-phen from a decade ago.

And it turns out that those of us who are obese might just be addicted to junk food.

2002 Study:
Reduction in Dopamine correlation with BMI,  Result: use over-eating to trigger the reward centers
http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/food/junkfood_addiction/dopamine.html
2008 Study
Very similar: ghrelin.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/humannature/archive/tags/junk+food/default.aspx
http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v11/n4/full/oby200368a.html

Video entries are fun! I don’t promise I’ll do them every week, but I’ll sure try.

Current weight: 310
Difference from last entry: 0
Difference from 2009 starting weight (316.6): -6.6

Show notes:

Current weight
Eating out
Strange week schedule-wise
Snacks and binging
Food for the overweight like drugs for addicts?

I’ll be back with another video update next week!

This has definitely been a weird week. Most of it was because of schedule changes. I was off on Monday and Tuesday for spring cleaning and a birth within the family. I worked in the office on Wednesday and Thursday, but then worked from home Friday. My wife got off work four hours early on Saturday, so we went out to eat then.

It’s been wacky, for certain. And I haven’t been sticking 100% to the Weight Watchers plan. But I have been making at least some better choices, and I’ve been trying to watch my portion sizes. And so far, this is paying off: according to my scale, I am about a half-pound lower than I was at my weigh-in on Wednesday.

I learn and relearn some lessons, but some I take to heart: if you are going to splurge, make your self stick to good foods while you do so. Have a box of WW 2 Pt. Bars instead of a box of Twinkies. Have a glass of strawberry milk instead of a milkshake. Have a yummy, yummy tangelo instead of a pb & honey sandwich.

Splurge, sure, absolutely if you can’t help it. But minimize the impact.

Of course, one should also avoid Red Lobster’s Alotta Colada. But we won’t talk about that one….

Do you know the Mountain Man
The Mountain Man?
The Mountain Man!
Yes I know the Mountain Man
Who brings the bags of sweets

Do you hate the Mountain Man?
The Mountain Man?
The Mountain Man!
Do you hate the Mountain Man
‘cuz when he comes I eat…

Damned friggin’ vendors selling big bags of candy, trying to tear down my willpower. I’ve learned, though, that I absolutely cannot get large portions (bags, boxes, etc) of candy, ‘cuz I’ll eat every single one.

Current weight: 288.5
Difference from last entry: +/- 0
Difference from 2008 starting weight (290.5): -2

Well, actually “staying steady” is a bit deceiving. I’ve been up and down the last couple of weeks. That was mostly caused by having an excuse: my birthday! My wife E. threw me a big party, and even though she had lotsa healthy food, I still found not-so-healthy foods to eat, too. But things would’ve been okay if I had just stuck with the party. I took my forthcoming birthday as an excuse to go all-out. I started the morning out with one of my favorite coffee drinks, a Colorado Spice Latte from my local Peaberry Coffee. Then it was off to Bruegger’s Bagels – they’re not as good as Einstein Bros., but easier to find downtown – and had one of their Very Veggie Omelet sandwich (nutritional info available). The breakfast sandwich is 11 pts., which is actually within the range of my normal breakfasts. The Colorado Spice Latte added another 6 pts, I think. Maybe 7… so I had 18pts for breakfast. That was not a good start…

Actually, I am spending too much on my actual birthday. Like I was mentioning, it would’ve been okay if I had just splurged on my birthday. But instead, I splurged all that week, and really just stopped now. It was one of those little binge periods I have every now and then. I wasn’t totally out of control, and I was at least making good choices while I was eating poorly. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but it does make sense. For example, I chose a small can of soda instead of a 44 oz. extra-large fountain drink. Small things like that… I was still bad, just not as bad as I could’ve been.

All in all, I am lucky to be where I am. But on the plus side, I can continue forward from this point.

it definitely could’ve been much worse.

Current weight: 288.5
Difference from last entry: -2
Difference from 2008 starting weight (290.5): -2

Well, that is certainly better. And what is even better than that is the fact that I knew this was going to be a good weigh-in. I worked extremely hard this past week to lose weight. I stayed within my daily food range most days, and I stayed well within my weekly range, too. I made sure I got at least 30 minutes exercise 5 days that week. I basically did everything perfectly. And it showed in my weight loss.

I have been making some changes to the foods I eat to try and orient myself with the Mediterranean diet. I’ve changed my breakfast to two slices of light, whole-grain bread (1 pt. for two slices) with cheese (2-3pts) melted on top. When I have time, I’ll put a couple of tomato slices on top of that. I have a lot of fruit throughout the day. I make a big salad to go with my lunch. I have a snack of whole-grain cereal and yogurt. It is hard doing some of the needed changes for the Mediterranean Diet – reducing the amount of poultry I eat is actually much harder than I imagined. I have migrated towards chicken and turkey for most dinners and a lot of lunches. It’s hard getting off of that!

On the other hand, some of the changes are pretty easy. Like I said above, the breakfast change was easy. As is adding in more hummus and other protein-rich veggies. For the most part, I love to eat most of the foods on the Mediterranean diet. As soon as I figure out how to get myself to reduce my poultry intake to two meals or so a week, add in fish for that same period, and then come up with other foods on the other days, I should be fine.

My main problem right now is the heat. It is going to make it hard for me to get in my daily walk. My big ol’ body isn’t so good with heat. I overheat with exercise; add in 95+ degree weather, and I’m in trouble. I am toying with the idea of taking an alternate train into work in the morning, then walking from that train station to the office. That’s about 25 minutes or so. I’ll still have to find a way to make up the other 25 minutes of exercise, though.

Anyway, all in all, this was a Very Good Week.