I know I'm sick

I ate 3 of the above, a lemon poppy seed muffin, a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie and a slice of cake. I'm sick...and you know what that means!

ANOTHER DIET! My last? Doubt it. My last for the year even? Ha.

I will be trying to "eat clean" for the rest of the year. Except for Christmas parties. This starts on November 1, 2009. I will be buying a scale to keep on track! (I know, that evil, devil like contraption).

I have to make better food choices. I want to journal daily about my progress and weigh in weekly.

P.S. bless Price Smart for the cool deco on the cupcake but really, you know they are just going in the garbage. and the coffin...might as well say Rest In Peace Michelle C. Williams if I don't get my diet together...and I'm off to eat No. 4

The Evidence is in the Calves...

So for the past year I have been noticing a few truths about losing a large amount of weight (20% or more of total weight). One thing is how flabby arms are almost unavoidable. We might as well just get used to them and pray that they look presentable because it seems like only 10% of us will have Angela Bassett arms after weight loss.

The other thing is that the calf doesn't shrink proportionately. I look at all the female winners of The Biggest Loser and while they have shrank down to a sliver of what they used to be there calves are still huge. Me too. I've been bit by the big calf bug too. My thighs have gone down almost 5 inches while my calves have only gone from 17 to 15 inches. I'm not impressed.

Luckily even though look big still, because I have lost over 40lbs I am sure that no one notices that I still have problems fitting into knee high boots...

..::Did You Lose Weight?::..

I knew from earlier this year that running was the best keep secret in losing weight. I also knew that because it was probably the most difficult form of exercise for someone who was not fit, that most people trying to lose weight wouldn't pick it up to help their efforts.

I have started running consistently again since the beginning of this month and I've notices the difference. Yes, the Buddha belly and turkey arms are still there but my stomach is looking fit! Any my face is looking slim. I figure if I keep this up until the end of the month, and don't over eat too much, I will be at 149 by my 2-7 b-day.

I am so happy that I'm at this point in my journey. Where I can enjoy food and still look good! Where I appreciate putting in a 30 minute run into my day. It's a great point. I wish more of my bigger friends were at this point.

I still have my last 10 to go but I'm taking my time. 1lb a week is good enough for me.

Note: the title of this post is one of the things that big people like the most. For more things read here and below.

There’s Stuff White People Like, Stuff Educated Black People Like, and so many more. This list is nowhere close to the over 100 “stuff” listed on SWPL but it features some key thing that my fellow fatties and I have grown to appreciate. What better way is there to kick off the Thanksgiving weekend than with this list? Enjoy!

-the following are in no particular order

New Restaurants
When I first moved to B.C. I was amazed at the number of American restaurant chains that were here. Red Robins, Papa John’s and IHOP just to name a few. I felt like a kid in a candy shop (no pun intended). New places give us an excuse to eat out.

Distractions at the Gym
iPods, Magazines, hotties lifting weights, funny workout partners: all are acceptable forms of passing time while cursing the invention of the elliptical

Fatter Friends
A fatter friend makes us look small by default. Just like an ugly friend can make one look hotter. It’s sad but true.

Value Meals/Fastfood Coupons
Any excuses to stop off at McDonald’s/BK etc. are welcomed.

Convenience
aka. not having to go the extra mile. Literally.

Cakes
Self explanatory.

Dessert Shops
Remember when Demetri’s started opening up everywhere? Or the first speciality cupcakes shop (now there are tons)? What about Marble Slab? Oh, the joy that was brought into our lives because we no longer only had Baskin Robbins.

Skinny Friends with “Big” Appetites
Truly, we like anyone who loves food like us.

Being Told We’ve Lost Weight
Nothing like being told that we look smaller to give us confirmation that our diet of Big Macs and Cinnabons is working.

Shoes
No matter how much we gain they’ll always fit!

..::Diet Books::..

I can't say that I didn't make it this far without taking a look at a few diet books in my life.

Most recently I have used Jillian Michael's Making the Cut. A book for losing your last 15-20lbs. Quickly I will list the pros and cons
Pro:

• very detailed- includes diet and workouts
• helped me lose 9lbs in the 30 days
• is only a 30 day plan
• workouts are short

Cons:

• big azz book
• too big to be bringing around to the do the workouts (even though I did)
• not enough cardio (she recommends we add it on ourselves though)

Overall Making the Cut is a good book. It follows through on it's promises. I didn't follow the diet plan (at all-ate out and fast food twice a week) but I still got results and now, 2 weeks since I ended, I am still cut.

I have the Eat Clean Diet book. It's small and full with bright colour pictures but I haven't really used it. I will do that start that in November.

I recently finished reading Such a Pretty Fat. Jen Lancaster is a funny writer. Her sarcasm reminds me of my friends but honestly, almost 400 pages and all she did was lose 40lbs? (she started at a size 24 or something).

She gets props from me for losing even a pound. I was just disappointed that it took her over 200 pages to get started. I could only take the wittiness for so long. Along with that, the fact that she never mentioned what she started at cheesed me too. I mean, I was reading the book because it might be a success story. Something that might inspire me. My overall impression is that procrastination and excuse making is all that fat people are good for. Myself included. I mean, I've been trying to lose my last 10lbs for over 6 months now. I need to get it together. I don't want to do Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig and because I'm saving for an Audi, I can't start boxing classes. But I need to get it together, just like Jenny did. So I guess, even though I don't know what she started at, she did inspire me a bit. To not be how she was in the begining of the book.

..::the new me::..

There are a few things I want to do...I think this blog is where I should begin to list them:

1. Get friends who are living how I want to live
2. Set Goals quarterly
3. Work on query letters (yeah, I wrote a book too!)
   
4. Spend two hours a week working on PDE (personal development exercises)
5. Have devotion/meditate ever day
6. Create a plan for an urban social network in Vancouver- with meet ups every weekend in the summer of 2010
7. Budget concisely and effectively (refer to blueprints)

The list will grow. And in relation to one of my previous post, I am finally writing Stuff Fat People Like. I will post a link to it because I'm doing it for www.thedashingfellows.com.

This website should be shifting to better reflect the new me. I need to stop the perma-dieting! One friend said that since February I've been on like 10 diets. Even worse, last weekend my friend made the straight-faced comment that he just assumes I'm always on a diet!

Listen, I don't wanna be like Jen Lancaster, author of the funny Such a Pretty Fat, who talks and talks but is still over 275lbs (just guessing because over 200 pages into the book she hasn't dropped the exact damage). The more I talk the more people realize my imperfections and my weight. I need to snap this thing and move from talking about the negative (my gut is so big, my hips ugh etc.) to the positive (boxing has given me ripped abs, I've lost over 40lbs and have kept it off etc.).

I am 154 right now! That's great. And with my current progress I should be 149 by October 31. And then at 144 by December 1. Slow and steady does it. Even if it doesn't I'm in the safe zone (under 160 in shoes).

has anyone ever lost weight eating pizza and big macs everyday?

So my date of post must be on E.S.T. because the date says September 30 when I was writing it late on the 29th, west coast time. I am mentioning this because on the 30th, my last day, I didn't do my last JM workout. Instead I did the following;

• had a big mac with large fries
• had a fat burger strawberry shake and chilli cheese fries
• had a gourmet cookie from George on Denman Street
• had a carrot cake with icing from the same place

Ball park, that was probably 3000 calories alone, on a day when I didn't work out.

But...that's not all.

My curiosity of how many calories I do consume on that day lead me to find out how many calories were in my meal from Red Robins that I had on Sunday.

The guacamole bacon burger and 3 baskets of fries totals 2461 according to the website.

So twice in less than a week I had days where I consumed more than 3000 calories!

And in spite of it all...I weighed in at 158 in my clothes...minus the standard tare for shoes and clothes and I presume I'm at 154! One pound lighter than I was go for and only 2.2 above the smallest I was (last seen May 17th ish this year).

So I just ingested 1/2 a pizza and a gourmet cookie...I've still had less than 1500 for the day.

I'm back to running for this month and might do some JM in November. I need to alternated.

Hopefully I will be taking boxing in January.

I'M HAPPY TO BE BACK IN THE 150'S

p.s. I can't remember if I used the above picture before, but it inspires me to continue to be in the best shape of my life...WHAT A FEELING! my measurements are 37-28.5-41.5 and my thighs went from 24.5 to 22.75"