Big-time achievement May 16, 2009

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you on my diet. I guess it’s as good a time as any to let you know of my success. It seems Delaware’s Big Fat Losers may become a thing of the past. I really don’t update it much, as I’ve been focusing mostly on this blog.

Anyhow, just to update: In the first three months since I began my Weight Watchers journey, I’ve lost an astonishing 50.6 pounds! Yes! Yes! Yes! Let me repeat, because I think it’s so awesome: I’ve lost 50.6 pounds! In 12 weeks! There’s no stopping this (morbidly obese) locomotive! I started this battle at 349 pounds. Yes…349 pounds! I most recently weighed-in at an astonishing 298 pounds. This is, honestly, the lightest I’ve been in at least a decade and I feel great. Just being UNDER 300 pounds is the best feeling one can have.

Continuing my numbers crunch:

• I’ve lost, on average, about 4 pounds per week. My lowest one-week total was 2.2 pounds back in March. My highest one-week loss was 7.8 pounds, again in March.
• My BMI (body mass index) was a frighteningly high 44% when I started in February. In short, that means that my complete human body was nearly half fat!!! I’ve recently recalculated and my BMI is now 37%. That’s a decrease by 7 percentage points! A healthy BMI for a guy like me is between 20-25%. My goal is to get to, at the highest, 25% by Christmas. I think this is a goal I can definitely reach.
• I still haven’t gone new-clothes shopping. Doesn’t interest me at this point. I’m happy finding “in-between” clothes at this point. The shirts I wore three months ago are noticeably larger and my slacks are EMBARRASSINGLY bigger. I don’t know if my trick of poking additional holes in my belt will last much longer!
• When I started Weight Watchers, I was such a huge MF’er that I maxed-out on the program’s Points. I was entitled 44 Points a day, which is a ridiculous amount of food. Only once I got below 300 pounds did my Points FINALLY recalculate. I now get 43 Points per day. I will lose one Point as I decrease in decades (ie. go from 290s to 280s to 270s etc.)
• Exercise has certainly played a key role in this weight loss. Being underemployed has allowed me great flexibility in my work-out routine. When I first started, I was LITERALLY exercising seven days a week for at least two hours. Well, after doing some research, I found that exercising so many days for so many hours may not actually be healthy. So, I’ve cut back to about five days a week for at least two hours at a time. The weight is still melting away and I actually find the days I don’t go to the gym allow my muscles to relax and take a breather.
• Carrots! Carrots! Carrots! These have been my saving grace…100%. Lots of people don’t like raw carrots. I love them. I eat probably half-a-pound of those babies every day. They are so loaded with fiber and so low in calories that I actually think I BURN calories while eating them! The fiber keeps me gassy throughout the day, but who cares? Keeps me cleaned out!
• Breakfast: I was never much of a breakfast eater. I’ve found eating breakfast is now essential to getting me going for the day. I’m up by about 7 every morning and I either make a smoothie (about 4 Points), have some berries with cottage cheese (3 Points), or have a simple glass of grapefruit juice (2 Points) to get my day started.
• I try to make lunch my biggest meal so I won’t eat much at dinner. Eating late at night is no good for me. After a certain hour, I no longer burn calories.
• Kilroy’s original challenge to me was to lose 100 pounds by the end of August. Although this will be cutting it close, I do think this is an attainable goal. So, Kilroy…you’d better have Christine O’Donnell waiting at the finish line!

There you have it. Three months in and many successes to report. Let’s hope I can keep at it!