Archive for July, 2008
Comments
The Weight Loss Continues…2 More Lbs.
Comments off
Awwww yeah boyeeee! Lost another 2 lbs this week. I will take that any day. I knew I was going to have a loss this week because I had been busting my butt in the gym and in the kitchen. Well, let me rephrase that: I wasn’t doing the cooking, but I was making healthier choices. My wife was also a big part of this week’s success. She made some healthy, yet delicious foods that left me satisfied. A big shout out goes to my love!
Enough of the sappy stuff. Guess what? I ate Thai food and a chicken a Parmesan sandwich this week and still lost weight. So, I didn’t deprive myself. Oh, almost forgot about the the Dove dark chocolate treats that my rock star friend bought. Those things were fantabulous. Simply amazing. Dove, you’ve got a winner. Aside from that I ate a lot of chicken, salad, fruits and veggies. I drank plenty of water and green tea too.
My workouts were focused on multijoint, compound exercises and my cardio was a mixture of HIIT, walking, and biking. I am staying away from isolation exercises for the time being. You can check out my workout routine to see what I do. I go heavy or I go home. Wait. I workout at home. [scratches head] Uhm, I go heavy and I stay home.
I have also updated my weight loss chart. It’s good seeing the number go down. Real good. I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I look at the chart. Those of you out there that track your weight loss know what I mean.
So where do I go from here? I do it all over again. Something I have adopted recently is taking one day at a time. Not dwelling on the past or on the potential future. I know that what I am doing today is what matters right now. So I eat right, workout hard (smart) and do it all over again the next day.
For those of you wondering: that’s a Stony Brook University Seawolves football shirt, I read, collect boats, light houses, and snow globes (for the misses), and I love tattoos.
This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com’s Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.
The Weight Loss Continues…2 More Lbs.
Comments
Why Are We Fatter Than the Animals at the Zoo?
Comments off
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Yuri Elkaim, a nutrition, fitness, and fat loss expert.
Have you noticed that animals (in the wild) are not fat? Obesity is not something that occurs in nature.
So why is that we humans are battling the bulge?
Well, what if I told you that the simple act of cooking our foods is making us fat and unhealthy! That’s right…cooking. Have you ever seen an animal cooking their food? Of course not…because it doesn’t happen.
For whatever reason, we are the only species on planet earth that feels it necessary to cook our food.
The reason that cooking food makes us fat and unhealthy is that heating a food above 118 F destroys its precious enzymes.
How Will Food Enzymes Help Me Lose Weight?
It’s very simple. Enzymes are required for every single reaction in the body. For instance, the breakdown of fat requires enzymes such as lipase. If lipase (and other fat burning enzymes) is not present then you cannot readily use your fat reserves for energy. As a result, more fat is stored and you pack on the pounds.
Eating foods (especially fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds) in their living or raw state ensures that all of their respective enzymes are in tact. The result – less energy needed to breakdown your meals, more enzymes to breakdown fat and rev up your metabolism, and greater energy and vitality.
Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more overweight and obese domesticated pets. What do you think the reason might be? If you said because we’re feeding them cooked, processed, and mechanized food, then you’re right!
I mean where on earth do you see an overweight dog or cat in the wild? You don’t – until humans domesticate it!
Here are two ways to get more enzymes into your diet for better fat loss results:
1. Eat more raw fruits and vegetables
2. If eating cooked foods, then use digestive enzymes before your meal to alleviate the stress on your digestive system and provide some much needed fat-burning catalysts.
At the end of the day, dieting will not help you lose weight unless you can provide your body with life-giving and fat-burning food enzymes. The key is to eat more of what nature intended for you to eat – natural whole foods! When you do so you’ll see the fat melt off your body!
Yuri Elkaim is a nutrition, fitness, and fat loss expert. He is also the author of the book, Eating for Energy, which has helped thousands of people in over 80 countries regain control of their health and weight.
Photo courtesy of Steffe.
This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com’s Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.
Why Are We Fatter Than the Animals at the Zoo?
Comments
Mending a broken heart…
Comments off
I’ve heard there’s an equation for the time it takes to heal after a breakup. They say it takes 2 weeks for every month of the relationship. I just recently broke up with my boyfriend after 2 years together. My heart is hurting, sometimes so much, it is unbearable. Will it really take 1 year to heal? This seems so unimaginable. Does this mathematical statement take into consideration how the relationship ended? It is less time to heal if it ended badly or more time if it ended mutually?
Any life experiences or advice will be helpful for this lonely-heart club member…
This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com’s Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.
Mending a broken heart…
Comments
Weight Ladder’s Guns Unleashed
Comments off
The shirt sightings are pouring in. It’s actually too much. Well, not really. It’s never too much so keep them coming. This time around I received some excellent photos from Kevin over at Weight Ladder. In his pictures you can see that he has slimmed down quite a bit. His weight loss pictures prove it! Notice his double chin is shrinking? I await the day that mine shrinks.
The man has lost a ridiculous amount of poundage after he got tired of being fat. He is a naturally big guy, an ex-basketball player that towers over most others, and ballooned up to a massive 390 lbs. I am extremely proud of his success so far. He has lost 62 lbs since starting back up on his weight loss journey.
Stay tuned for more FMU shirt sightings! If you would like a Fat Man Unleashed shirt don’t hesitate to buy one. If you see anyone with a Fat Man Unleashed shirt let me know by leaving a comment or sending me an email. You can even take a picture of it and send to me (with the persons permission of course). I’m interested in knowing!!
This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com’s Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.
Weight Ladder’s Guns Unleashed
Comments
3 Commercial Diet Plans for Successful Weight Loss
Comments off
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Brandi Koskie, senior editor at DietsInReview.com, a diet review and healthy living resource online, with 400 reviews, daily diet blog and recipe library.
We’ve made it our responsibility at DietsInReview.com to research the hundreds of diet and weight loss plans, pills, books and more. Our constructive, unbiased reviews have taken out the leg work for you, and can aid your decision making process. Three of the more popular reviews at our site are Weight Watchers, South Beach Diet and NutriSystem. They are some of the most successful plans around, as I show in these mini-reviews.
Weight Watchers
This highly acclaimed weight loss plan started nearly half a century ago. The small support-style meetings they had in the beginning, are the same people attend today. They now offer a top-notch online membership site, as well as specialized programs like Weight Watchers for Men. The program supports regular exercise and the flexibility to eat what you like- in moderation. The vast wealth of information provided on site, coupled with that of your counselor, give you the tools for success. It’s most famous for the Points system, which assigns a point value to foods/meals based on the fat, calorie and fiber value. You’re assigned a daily point target, and when you stay within that, you’re likely to meet your weight loss goal and keep it off.
South Beach Diet
The low-carb diet phenomenon dissipated a while back, but the South Beach Diet still stands strong with a loyal following. Cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston, created the plan, giving special attention to keeping the heart in healthy, working condition. This is accomplished by removing saturated fats and reducing intake of carbs. The common result is a silenced sugar addiction and healthy weight loss. In 2008, an updated version called South Beach Diet Supercharged was released- updating the science behind the diet, as well as finally incorporating exercise recommendations. There are some food restrictions on this diet, but other benefits like balancing blood sugar, reduced cholesterol and heart health, make it worthwhile to pass on your former food vices.
NutriSystem
If you can’t keep up with preparing healthy meals to manage your weight loss- then you might try a meal delivery program. NutriSystem was a trailblazer for this concept, and stands out as a leader today. For a monthly fee of about $10/day, they’ll ship pre-packaged meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each is portion controlled, meets the glycemic index and has a balanced ratio of carbs, protein and fat. All of this promotes weight loss and helps you manage blood sugar. The meals do come in shelf-stable packaging, so the downside is that they can have high sodium and preservatives. Preference for the foods lie on both sides of the fence- but the people who do like the meals, also rave about the success they’ve enjoyed.
This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com’s Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.
3 Commercial Diet Plans for Successful Weight Loss
Comments
Victory! I Lost 2 Pounds
Comments off
Yeah, that’s right. I lost two pounds this week. Take that flabby sides and belly! It doesn’t sound like much weight lost, but I will take a loss any day. Last week was a bit of a shocker when I realized I gained back a significant amount of weight.
This week is a huge relief to my psyche. I focused on eating the right things, eating frequently, and working my butt off in the gym. It paid off. Now I just need to continue to take one day at a time so that I don’t go backwards anymore. The major kick in the pants I got from last week’s post woke me up. I received a bunch of emails full of support.
As a matter of fact, here is an email I got from a friend/reader:
—-
“I am committing to weighing myself once a week from this point on until I reach my first goal. ”
July 16th,2008
It’s a week.
How’s your eating?Here’s the picture:
Israel, age 45 a chronic morbidly obese man died today of complications from diabetes. He acquired diabetes from a life of overeating, and after 5 years suffering with the disease, and not regulating his diet or exercise, succumbed to congestive heart failure. Heart and vascular problems are all to common with obese people and particulary with those who’ve acquired diabetes as a result of their weight. His wife now works 2 jobs to support their 2 children who will now NOT go to college and will work to support their mother as soon as they are able. 6 months ago on his fat man blog he lamented ’slipping up’ and all the folks who cut him slack.Not me.
Get off your fat excuse making ass and stop making excuses for yourself. The mental process which allows you to make excuses for yourself is the same mental process that allows you to slip into bad eating habits. You need to find the root of your self excuses, some piece of your psyche thinks you need the excuses, or you aren’t worthy of success, so you try, but build in excuses to fail so you don’t have to feel bad about having tried your best but not succeeded. Figure this one out and you’ve unlocked the key to real change.
I love you man, get back on the program. You said 1 week, it’s 1 week, weigh in.
—-
If that’s not enough to motivate me then I don’t know what is. He touches on a very key point, building in excuses.
Anyone else suffer from that? Care to share?
Spread the Health News? - Get all of the latest health news, submit your own, and vote them to the top.
This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com’s Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.
Victory! I Lost 2 Pounds
Comments
Cut the B.S. Diets: Part Deux
Comments off
What I would recommend for a meal schedule is something like this, for a ‘normal’ day - adjust the times as I go … since I’m just writing to the average person. This is more in tune with my personal goals at the moment but you can adjust to fit your life. Or not use it at all. It’s up to you.
6:15 – Morning cardio Meal ~200 cals– Protein shake, or something high in protein and low carb, either before or after your morning cardio. Depends on your stomach.
* 6:30 – Hop on treadmill for 30-45 mins, low speed, full incline *
8:00 – Breakfast, ~500 cals – heavy on carbs, with protein and fish oil or other supplement for fats.
10:15 – Mid-morning snack, ~300 cals – moderate carb, high protein, little fat
1:00 – Lunch, ~600 cals - moderate carb, high protein, little fat
4:15 – Pre-workout meal ~600 cals – mass/weight gain protein shake OR high carb snack with some fat and protein
* 5:15-5:30 WORKOUT *
7:00 – Post workout shake ~400 cals – My recommendation is a protein shake, with 2-3 scoops of dextrose (or gatorade powder) for quick absorption of calories.
8:00 – Post workout meal ~500 cals – Protein and healthy fats! Boiled chicken, vegetables, lightly oiled with virgin olive oil or something similar. Your body will convert excess carbs into fat, you don’t want very much after your post workout shake! Vegetables, maybe a small portion of rice for some carbs.
10:00 – Before bed – this is a good time for casein protein, low-fat yogurt or cottage cheese, steak, something high in protein to help keep you anabolic instead of catabolic while you’re asleep.
That’s about ~2800 calories a day, adjust your meals accordingly (if you’re trying to gain weight, lose weight – of course, this is dependent upon your basal metabolism and not the recommended 2,000 calories a day!) Average person burns about 2500 calories, in my opinion, so this would work well for an above average person who does both cardio (going for a jog or treadmill), and does a weight training workout to maintain muscle, lose fat, and overall just get fit.
This is a very flexible plan and if you need more calories simply add more meals, I feel it’s better to consume food more often rather then bigger portions. +/- 100 calories over 8 meals makes for 800 extra calories a day, over a week that’s 4,000+ calories - and if your body doesn’t use them, what does that become? Fat! One pound of fat equals 3,500 calories - so think, for all the extra you eat gets added up over years, day in and day out. That could equal to 20-30 pounds a year (some days you’re active, some you’re not, Christmas you eat huge portions, but summer time you may never take the time to eat). Over 10-15 years, this number just keeps getting bigger and bigger until you’re very unhealthy, and unhappy with yourself. Make the change sooner, rather than later!
I talk about pretty bland meals, but you can spice things up accordingly … just think of what you’re trying to accomplish, staying high-energy (eating more carbs), staying lean (eating more protein), or pre/post workout if you don’t like shakes!
Remember, everyone has there own thing that works for them. The above may not work for you, but you won’t know that until you try.
What does your nutritional breakdown look like? Maybe you can share with us what you eat?
Spread the Health News? - Get all of the latest health news, submit your own, and vote them to the top.
This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com’s Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.
Cut the B.S. Diets: Part Deux
Comments
Overeaters Anonymous (OA) Meetings - An Inside Look
Comments off
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Jenny Clark. She primarily blogs about teaching and education related issues. She teaches 2nd grade in an urban Midwest school. You can see her blog at http://doinitjensway.blogspot.com.
First I’d like to say that I’m no expert on this. Please see the Overeaters Anonymous (OA) website www.OA.org for official information. Okay, now that that’s out of the way, I’d like to share my story. I’ve struggled with my weight, and had body issues for as long as I can remember. I remember thinking that I was fat as early as 1st grade. I went on the grapefruit diet when I was in third grade. I’ve since tried: the egg-banana-hotdog diet, anything a magazine told me to do, bulimia, Atkins, South Beach, medical research programs, poopy pills (they blocked the fat, but gave you the poops), and almost any other diet program you can think of. Regardless, my weight just kept increasing. I’ve had a few short lived periods of success, but in general, I’ve always failed. It didn’t make sense. I’m an over-achiever. I’m successful, why is it I couldn’t manage this?
Several years ago, I heard about Overeaters Anonymous meetings. I attended a couple of meetings… cried, listened, read, and decided that it wasn’t for me. I wasn’t ready yet. Finally, this summer, I’d had enough. My doctor had started mentioning my weight at every visit. I was constantly worrying that I would have a heart attack, and felt terrible. I decided that things had to change. I decided to approach this from all my angles. I went to my doctor and got some blood work done. I started seeing a therapist, I’ve met a couple of times with a nutritionist, I started reading, exercising, and I began attending OA
meetings.
It started out rather uncomfortable. Overeaters Anonymous was definitely the hardest. It was hard just to get to the meeting. At the meeting it was hard to speak. It was hard to believe that I was in the right spot. I spent a lot of my time at those initial meetings judging the other people. I sort of knew I was in the right place, but I didn’t want to admit that I was the same as the people I was judging. Then, at about my 5th meeting, a person made a comment about stealing food from the families they were babysitting for. I flashed back to my babysitting years. I totally did that. I would eat little bits of lots of their food and try to put it back in just the same spot so it wouldn’t be noticed. Other people in the room also admitted to doing the same thing. It was then that it clicked. I was among people who, for whatever reason, shared my story. We don’t, and probably never have responded to food like most people. Many of them have overcome their weight problems by working the OA program (not just short term- these folks have been successful for years, and they keep coming back to sustain their success, and to help us newcomers).
After that I got “abstinent.” In Overeaters Anonymous (OA), abstinent, means that you pick a food/life plan, and stick to it. They don’t tell you what to pick, you know your trigger foods better than anyone else. Just like in AA, you keep track of your abstinence. I’ve now been abstinent for 26 days. I thought it would be terrible. I thought I’d constantly be feeling sorry for myself. Honestly, there have been hard parts, but overall, it’s been the most freeing thing of my life. I’m not constantly thinking about food. I’m finally free to be me. I’ve spent my whole life eating to deal with a painful experiences, now, I’m finally dealing with life without eating. I’m finally finding my spiritual path. I’m finally finding my voice, and letting it shine. After a year of abstinence, a person celebrates their “birthday,” now I understand why.
The things I hear in OA, the people I meet, the literature I’ve read, has all been amazing (once I got over the initial discomfort). I feel like a new person. I know that I’ll always have people right there to support me when things are tough. There are no fees, there’s nothing commercial, just people in all different stages of recovery to support each other.
*Image Courtesy OA.org
This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com’s Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.
Overeaters Anonymous (OA) Meetings - An Inside Look
Comments
This Weigh-in is a Huge Disappointment
Comments off
Last week I confessed about not having been eating properly. I haven’t weighed myself in a very long time. I finally weighed myself today, it was not a pretty sight. I’m extremely disappointed with the number I saw on the scale. I clocked in at 320 lbs.
That sucks! Big time. I gained back over 16 lbs. I’ve been hammering out some killer workouts, but I guess my eating poorly has caused me to put the weight back on. I have gone ahead and added the weight lost back to “Lbs Lost So Far” area above. I have also updated my weight chart, something I hadn’t done since December 2007.
I am committing to weighing myself once a week from this point on until I reach my first goal. What is that goal? To lose the weight I put back on. How am I going to achieve that? Working out and controlling my eating. When I ate healthily, in moderation, and frequently I lost weight. That’s the piece of the puzzle that I need to add. I lost track for a while, but now my eye is on the prize again.
Now everyone knows how big of a disappointment this weigh-in was. Next week won’t be so bad because I am going to crank it up a notch!
This is a post from FatManUnleashed.com’s Weight Loss Blog:
This Weigh-in is a Huge Disappointment
Comments
Dr. Wayne Andersen on Habit Changing Support
Comments off
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Dr. Wayne Andersen, Medical Director of Medifast, Inc. Learn more about his new book, Habits of Health at DrWayneAndersen.com.
What are the benefits of having some type of support when trying to change a habit?
Building a support system is the single most important thing you can do to incorporate and maintain the “Habits of Health” program, or any program for that matter. Without a support system, your chances of changing your lifestyle go down dramatically. Once you’ve learned how to take control of
the most important health-related areas of your life, which are: eating, motion, and sleep, the thing that will hold all of those together is support.
There are different kinds of support systems, and depending on your personality, you should choose which type works for you. There are three methods that will help you master the program in my upcoming book “Habits of Health.”
1) Studying: which includes attending trainings and using other resources so you can gain knowledge.
2) Doing: or actually making a change in your life that will lead you toward optimal health.
3) Modeling: the people that we hold up as role models can have a great affect on our lives. The people we are close to and emulate are what we become, particularly if they are the same sex.
In my book, I discuss the importance of what I call a bionetwork. This is a type of comprehensive support system. It takes all different kinds of supports and utilizes all of them so that you can get the most out of your new healthy lifestyle. This bionetwork can include a large number of people like a health coach, an Internet-based support, peers, virtual clinic, etc. The bionetwork can also include support systems made up of friends, family, informal group settings, formal settings and online programs.
Have you tried using a support system like this? If so, how did it work for you? What was your best option?
A new book due out this summer, by well-respected physician Dr. Wayne Andersen, seeks to take a revolutionary approach to creating optimal health and weight management by offering common sense advice and direction, supported by proven, medical data. In his book, Habits of Health, Dr. Andersen, a board certified critical care physician, does not advocate fad dieting or a miracle wonder cure; rather, it provides the knowledge and support to help people achieve optimal health. The book seeks to offer an easy guide to establish long-lasting, improved health.
Dr. Andersen graduated from the University for the Health Sciences medical school in Kansas City, where he was valedictorian of his graduating class. Dr. Andersen became the tenth physician Board Certified in Critical Care. For 18 years, Dr. Andersen directed the Surgical Critical Care Program at
Grandview Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, and was Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology. Dr. Andersen is currently Medical Director of Medifast, Inc., an innovative leader in the production, distribution and sale of weight management and health management products. As the chief architect of Take Shape for Life, Dr. Andersen has built an integrated support system that helps people make the necessary changes in their lifestyles to create optimal health. Dr. Andersen provides leading nutritional solutions, medical support and the support of caring individuals, to provide the necessary one-on-one interaction so vital in changing peoples lives. Dr. Andersen resides in Annapolis, Md.
Habits of Health seeks to help people to be the healthiest they can be with what they have. Through his book and the accompanying workbook, Dr. Andersen provides a roadmap and an opportunity for people to choose a better life.
“This book stresses the fact that achieving optimal health is an active process, and it is reminds people that the small things we do every day make all the difference,” Andersen said. “Everyone has the fundamental choice and opportunity to choose a better life for themselves, and in this book I show them how to do that. I want to show people they have the power to create optimal health within themselves.”
The book is available for preorder at the beginning of July and will go on sale in bookstores nationwide end of July.
Visit Dr. Wayne Andersen to learn more and purchase “Habits of Health.”
This is a post from FatManUnleashed.com’s Weight Loss Blog:
Dr. Wayne Andersen on Habit Changing Support
