ric

I thought posting your before and after shots would get a reaction. BTW, the photo of you and your kid should be a poster for fatherhood...... great shot, great kid, loving dad.

Whiskers

Thanks, he's the best thing to happen to me....

Jogging / Walking – When I first started, I found a pace that was comfortable to me. I started doing the treadmill only, but as the weather got warmer, I took it outside. Now I love running outside and probably will continue throughout the year.


For the first month my feet and ankles hurt. So much that I even went to a podiatrist. After about a month, the pain started easing and about two months later there was no pain at all. Get comfortable sneakers (I have a pair of Adidas and another pair of New Balance).


I mix up my runs in two different categories a) steady pace jogs and b) interval – slower jog for about 2 minutes then faster run for 2 minutes (repeat for 30 minutes). I have been told that the interval method helps speed up your metabolism during non-exercise.


Jogging is easily the most entertaining exercise I do. Between the jogs on a beach or in another town or just in my development with my MP3 player, it is a nice way to pass time. I borrowed a jogging stroller from my friends and my son loves going for a run with me. I take him about twice a week.


Snack Bags – A new thing out there are these 100 calorie snack bags that contain 100 calories worth of cookies or crackers. When I first started dieting I did have these as snacks (mainly because I didn’t want my body to be shocked from the lack of sugar). As I progressed, I switched to healthier snacks (popcorn, fruit, yogurt, etc.). My doctor gave me great advice which I try (key word is try) to follow; He said, “If a food has no nutritional value, don’t eat it. If you are not sure, don’t eat it. If it does have nutritional value, you can eat it.”.


Attitude on Food – My attitude towards food has changed a lot since I lost the weight. Food used to be a luxury item, where I always needed to enjoy it. Now I view food as a necessity, its something that I need to live (with some exceptions below).


During the week, I eat basically the same things over and over again. On the weekends, I mix it up a little more. I usually plan my meals a day in advance and try to include all the food groups in each day (dairy, grain, protein, etc.).


Of course there are exceptions where food will be a luxury. Going to a nice restaurant, when friends or family cook for you, football, etc. Just don’t have too many of these exceptions.

anothercls

Did you take any supplements such as multi-vitamins or something for your joints? I noticed you had pain in your ankles and feet, did you try some sort of joint formula for this?

JJ4Short

I see by that second picture you are hitting the weights. Awesome Job man, I hate people who take the "Jared" way out and feel once they lose weight they are fine when in truth you just look like an out of shape skinny person. Trust you will be Bencing and lifting a hell of a lot in no time

Oh yeah when you were growing up were you fat or skinny?

Whiskers

I am currently taking a multi-vitamin along with others (fish oil as well). When I get home, I will list what I am currently taking. I only took a multi-vitamin when I first started (and Trimspa).

Whiskers

My current goal now is to gain muscle without gaining weight (which means I am still dieting to an extent).

I was heavy growing up, but not nearly as heavy as I was after college. In high school, I was around 180. I lost 20 lbs before I went away to college, but once I got there, I reached about 200. After school, I kept going up and up.

Time For Sleeep

Everyone knows heavier people are more jolly.
Edit: Whiskers already said this

Awesome advice for the normal person Whiskers, do keep it up.

Time For Sleeep

Awesome awesome point of advice. When you start to think of food as fuel for your body that you need during the week, going out to eat and having a good meal on one of your cheat days makes food that much better.

Whiskers

Joining a Gym – I joined a gym around 185 lbs (approx. 65% of my current weight). The reason I waiting so long was not because I was embarrassed to be a fat guy in a gym. The reason was this; a) I knew I was going to do all cardio at first and b) I had just bought a treadmill for home. The value wasn’t there yet because I could exercise at home because I didn’t need weights or machines at that point. My only regret was getting a treadmill instead of an elliptical machine because a) The elliptical is easier on the feet and knees and b) the open road is free.

On a side note, I generally do not weight myself at the gym for two reasons. First, there is too much variables such as time of day, water weight, etc. The other is because of a Kevin James bit I saw where he was complaining about naked guys on the scales at the gym (yea, I guess he goes to a gym). The punch line was that they should wear a towel and subtract a pound.

rise

I think you looked happier as a fat man

SilviaGTO

question:
Does it feel weird to be so thin now after having so much weight on?

wstevens

I admit, he looked more lovable when he was fat. However, I'd much rather have sex with him now.

Whiskers

Right or wrong, I am currently taking the following;
-Fish Body Oils 1000 (GNC)
-Alpha Lipoic Acid 50 (GNC)
-Mega Man Dietary Supplement (GNC)

Whiskers

I was crying inside

Whiskers

I wouldn't say weird....I am a lot more critical of my body then I was before. I am noticing things that I would like to change about myself, that I would not have cared about in the past. I am still concerned about my stomach area which is basically some excess skin.

I do feel a little strange when I look at old pictures of myself. Also, my wife is a BBW (for you laymen, that is a Big Beautiful Woman), but she is doing well on her diet and looking to drop the Big in BBW. With that, there has been some tention with us because she thinks Im becoming obsessive with the diet / gym. Also, the red bull incident didn't prove that I could control myself when women come on to me.

Whiskers

Cool beans....I did it all for you.......

doopstr

Link?

michimonster

me too. I'm getting there though. Life has been way too stressful lately.

michimonster

And by the way, awesome thread wslkar!!!!!! 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up

Whiskers

https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/red-bull-vodka-no-more-317931/

Whiskers

Just try to exercise, even if it's just a walk / jog. You will find it very relaxing.

michimonster

oh i do. its just finding time. yes i know it sounds like an excuse but everyday i have 12-14 hour days before i can even think about working out unfortuntely. I was going twice a day over the summer when i worked full time. Now I work and go to school fulltime also I'm getting back on track.

Whiskers

Eating Out – I found that a lot of restaurants have a healthy area on the menu (Applebee’s has their Weight Watchers and Chili’s has the Guiltless Grill). They are pretty good, but more importantly list the nutritional value. If you find yourself at a fast food restaurant (I have a two year old son), here are some of my suggestions; McDonalds has pretty good salads – get the grilled chicken option and the light (or no) dressing. Wendy’s chili (fingerless) is good and they also have good salads.


Planning – Planning your meals and snacks are crucial. Plan you next meal at least an hour in advance. Stick to the plan! It’s easy to go to a cafeteria or dining hall and see something better (usually not as healthy) and fall in.


Bring healthy snacks (fruit, nuts, etc.) with you to work or school. If you don’t, you will be tempted by the vending machine.


Condiments / Dressings – As far as condiments go, I basically stayed away from mayonnaise (even low fat). My favorites are salsa, A1 and mustard. Also, a sandwich (turkey or chicken breast on wheat or whole grain) dry with lettuce is good.


A salad dressing can ruin a nice healthy salad very quickly. I eat my salads with a light (fat free, low fat, low calorie) or dry.

dom

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Whiskers

30 minutes out of 24 hours.....

wstevens

I can see this.

When I first started dating the wifey (9 years ago), I was still on a no-compromise health kick that I had started 2 years earlier. I was eating NOTHING high cal or high fat and it drove her nuts. Sometimes she liked to go out for ice cream on the weekends or bake cookies and I just wouldn't eat any of it. There were days where I would just eat cottage cheese and fruit for dinner. She started calling me Jane Fonda and would threaten to buy me leg warmers for my birthday. Her favourite put-down when I would refuse anything with more than 5 grams of fat was "tuck in the string."

I finally relented and convinced myself that I didn't need to be a Nazi about eating not-so-good-for-you stuff, just as long as I didn't do it all the time. I ended up turning the weekends into "I can eat anything I want, in moderation" days. This appeased the wifey and I really didn't gain any weight.

wstevens

when I was in school, I went for a run anythime I needed to think about something (i.e. the topic for a research paper, reviewing for an exam, etc.)

ludachrisvt

iTrader: (2)

hmm ... restarted my slim fast kick again. Lets see if my asshole friends with their binge eating and diet teasing dont get to me this time.

Whiskers

I only did slim fast in the morning (shake), so if you do this your friends won't even know......

Whiskers

Potatoes / Rice (Starch) – I stay away from white potatoes and rice as much as possible. I occasionally have a sweet potato or some grain rice.


First Few Minutes of Exercise – I find that the first 5-10 minutes of cardio is the toughest. This is probably the most likely place you will quit. Once you get past this tough part, you body gets used to it.

sipark

Wow, I'm very impressed!! Nice job, wsklar!

Is there anything you can do about the excess skin on your stomach?

Whiskers

Coffee – I’m not a big coffee drinker, but if I want a coffee, I get one. I use a little skim milk and a few packets of Splenda. I avoided Starbucks for the most part, but if you must have a Frapachino, they now have a light version that has about 150 calories and 2 grams of fat. Do not (I repeat) do not, get the whipped cream, it adds about 80 calories!!!


Eggs – On all my salads, I put on one hard boiled egg with the yolks gone. On occasion, I have had egg beaters on a multigrain muffin.

Soups – Stay far away from cream based soups. I have occasional broth soup (such as chicken noodle). However, I am not big on soup because if you eat it before exercise, it makes you feel bloated.

Whiskers

With exercise, it appears that the excess skin is going down, but just a little bit. I think the only option (as Ric told me) is a surgical procedure.

Whiskers

Lifestyle Change – So by now you are asking about the lifestyle change. Here is the deal; I know that if I go back to eating crappy foods and sitting on my ass all day, I will gain the weight back. That’s the bad news. The good news is that I have no desire to eat crappy foods and sit on my ass all day. Will I be cheating a little more then I did before, sure. Will I have more calories to maintain my weight then before, yes. But in the 7 months, I learned a lot about my body and how to live healthy.

astro

Astro's Diet

I eat a balanced healthy diet. No processed foods save for cheese, butter etc. All brown grains, whole wheat pasta....not much red meat, lots of chicken and pork and fish. 2 days a week I eat vegetarian. I cook every meal for myself, I don't go to restaurants, eat fast food or take out either...I do eat a lot of peanut butter and brown bread.
I don't eat chocolate bars, i only ever drink water, and the occasional juice, never drink or pop. don't do caffeine either. My salt and sugar intake is kept within recommended limits also....

Whiskers

^^^

Skippy has a all natural peanut butter that's pretty good.

Whiskers

Salt - While I didn't officially stay away from salt, I was aware of my intake.

JJ4Short

This is my biggest problem. I grew up with a traditional mom that literally cooked everyday so now I am spoiled about cooking and don't really know any good recipes other then the ones she cooked (Island food which usually takes 1-2 hours to cook but generally really good for you) Can you reccommend a good cookbook or site with non gimmicky/fad diet recipes. I just want to eat like a normal healthy person but I find myself skipping meals because cooking takes so long plus I don't want to get on a fad diet.

Whiskers

I also don't cook, so I can't help here. But, a lot of the stuff I eat are either microwavable or cold (soy burgers, cereal, protein shakes, etc). Weightwatchers.com has some good stuff.

JJ4Short

Mmmmmm Soy burgers. My uncle is a Rastafarian so he is vegaterian and would always eat those. I forgot the name of them though...is the best one Boca?