265 - The downward journey continues

Pretty much as expected, I've lost a few pounds in the past few days:

265 lbs (120.2 kg) today

With a new job (a promotion) that is a little more physically demanding than my previous one, and slightly longer hours at work, the temptation to eat a fourth meal when I get home after midnight has gone, and with it the extra unwanted calories and carbs. The swimming (part of the therapy for my once-broken arm) also helps.

I can also tell that I'm losing weight and inches again because my clothing is fitting better. I'm a little sad that the colder, darker days are rapidly approaching and will limit some of my outdoor adventures. It'll soon be time to start compiling a list of places to go snowshoeing during the winter.

259 - Enjoying cooking again

258.6 lbs (117.3 kg)

My first two weeks of living in my own apartment in Missoula have been a joyous feast of healthy home cooking. I twice made some un-potato salad (with small pieces of steamed cauliflower instead of potatoes), chicken Waldorf salad (with apples, grapes, celery and walnuts), a root vegetable beef stew (with rutabaga, turnips and parsnips). Today's lunch was BLT (with bacon and tomato on a Romaine lettuce leaf spread with mashed avocado). A few days ago I made Philly cheesesteak sandwiches with a sweet potato skin (innards scraped out) replacing the hoagie roll. It has been fun thinking of creative and tasty ways to replace the added sugar and wheat products from traditional recipes.

When I stepped on the scales this morning I had lost another fifth of a pound.

264 - The journey continues

Today was a great day. I finally got to move into my own apartment again.

After moving to Missoula at the end of January, and living in a friend's basement for a week (thanks, Julie!) while I started a new job (technically a transfer, really, to a different grocery store but still part of the same group) I moved most of my "stuff" out of the temporary storage location not far away and into my new place. I had to buy a whole new pantry full of food (new vegetables, new condiments, new salad dressings, new protein sources - eggs and oily fish).

The only substantial thing missing for me in my apartment was a bed since I gave away the last mattress that I owned when I left Helena about 16 months ago. I have a new mattress arriving on Thursday or Friday (i.e. in a week from now).

More than halfway towards
losing the gains of 2017

When I stepped on the scales this morning I weighed in at 263.8 lbs. Thankfully, I'm WAY down from my recent high (just before Christmas) of 288 lbs. With my new work schedule (4.00 pm to midnight, five consecutive evenings a week) I've found that I'm more easily able to do the intermittent fasting thing that I've been wanting to do. I can now happily skip breakfast altogether on some days and not eat my first meal until 1 o'clock or so. My regular dinner break is at 7.00 pm. I can usually manage without having another substantial meal before going to bed between 12.30 and 1.00 am. It's a LOT easier to resist the temptations of eating carbs when carbs barely enter the apartment. For the first time in five or six weeks, I have access to a full kitchen again with all my own pots and pans and knives and other tools. Tomorrow morning I'm going to see what fresh produce is available at the Missoula Valley Winter Market.

263.8 lbs

Even if I didn't have bathroom weighing scales, I'd be able to tell that I'm losing weight again because my new pants (the ones I had to buy because the other ones couldn't accommodate my growing girth) and my old jeans are both feeling really baggy now, and I'll soon have to tighten my belt to the third hole (currently comfortably using the second hole, and the holes appear to be about an inch apart). I'll soon have to go and get another new pair of pants. The next huge milestone for me, in terms of clothing, will be when I have to swap my 2XL work shirts for just an XL size.

As part of the process of moving house, and with it all of my worldly goods, I rediscovered some old coats that I had kept but not worn in a while. Some were comically too large. I shall be disposing of them soon. I still want to go out one day to a campground somewhere and record a video of the ceremonial burning of my old 5XL clown pants. I'm NEVER going back to that size again.

265 - First day in my new job

Approx. 12 lbs lost in January (so far)

Well, it's the same job that I was doing before, Customer Service Supervisor in a large grocery store, just in a different city - Missoula. My work schedule is more regular now. I'll be working from 4.00 pm until midnight, Saturday through Wednesday, with Thursdays and Fridays off. Nice!

The chart on the left shows how I dropped from about 277 lbs at the beginning of the year to 265 lbs this morning, with a couple of little (pizza-induced) blips along the way. Seriously, I've learned that for me, on a low carb diet, pizza is as bad as eating pure sugar. As soon as I get into a place where I can do it, I want to learn how to make a really good cauliflower-based pizza crust.

It'll be interesting to see what effect the increased amount of walking will have because I'm temporarily living a lot further away from my workplace (2.7 miles) than before (1.2 miles) and there is a 135 ft elevation change now.

Fantastic trails and recreation areas really close to town

Also, once my housing situation is resolved and I have easier access to all of my gear, I'm looking forward to exploring the recreation areas nearby; Pattee Canyon, Blue Mountain and Rattlesnake, as well as the South Hills and the downtown Riverfront.

There are lots of exciting changes and opportunities coming my way soon. I hope you can join me for them, either in person or by following the blog.

265 - getting fresh

As I was looking at the website of a popular online shopping company last night, it occurred to me that I really couldn't use most of their food offerings. My cupboards will contain a few standbys for emergencies, sure, but the bulk of the food I'll be preparing and eating will be fresh produce. Fortunately for me, I work in a grocery store and have easy access to some good quality produce, including some exotic things like dragon fruit, jackfruit and kiwano melons (and everyday things like nopales, a.k.a. cactus paddles).

265.2 lbs (120.3 kg) this morning

You've seen and heard it be said elsewhere, I'm sure, that you should shop the perimeter of your grocery store, not the center aisles, because those contain all the packaged "convenience" foods that are full of artificial additives and preservatives and unpronounceable ingredients.

Food writer and journalist Michael Pollan says in his book "Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual": "Processed food products dominate the center aisles of the store, while the cases of mostly fresh food—produce, meat and fish, dairy—line the walls. If you keep to the edges of the store you’ll be much more likely to wind up with real food in your shopping cart."

This morning I tipped the scales at 265 lbs. I had to buy myself a new belt yesterday because the old one was literally hanging together by a single thread and was incapable of doing its job of holding my pants up. It's only a cheap Chinese belt because at the moment that's all I can afford (since I'm saving up to move house again) but I will allow myself something nice-looking once I'm more settled.

267 - A good weekend in Missoula

267.2 lbs (121.2 kg) this morning

I spent a couple of days last weekend visiting my new home city (my "spiritual home") of Missoula, prior to moving back there permanently on January 25th. I was very careful about eating a low carb diet, opting for green salads most of the time. It paid off. At this morning's weigh-in, I was three pounds lower than at any time in the past few months.

One good discovery that I made was a new chain of fast-casual Brazilian restaurants called Five on Black (http://www.fiveonblack.com) with two locations in Missoula, one in Bozeman, plus one each in Denver and Boulder. You get to pick a base, a protein, a side, a sauce and a topping (hence the Five) in whatever combination you like. I opted for mixed greens of Romaine lettuce and spinach, with oven roasted beets, jicama and sweet potatoes, accompanied by steamed collard greens covered in a fantastic spicy coconut sauce, topped with a chimichurri verde (with cilantro, parsley, minced garlic, oregano and chili pepper flakes). For me, it had the perfect amount of 'heat' and was very tasty.

270 - a stunningly good start to the new year

I did finally dig out my bathroom scales yesterday and was delighted to learn that my "gut" feeling was correct.

I've managed to get down to 270 lbs (122.5 kg), a loss of twelve pounds in a week and a half and 18 lbs lower than my recent high of 288 lbs (about three weeks ago). I'm very happy about that.

"Success begets success" goes the phrase and so I plan to continue what I have been doing (eating fewer carbs and less overall) at least until I get myself settled into a new home and a new job in Missoula. Then it will be time to re-evaluate.

282 - gained nearly 40 lbs in the past year - and will lose the final 100 lbs this coming year, you just watch me!

Looking back a year at my first blog post of 2017 (a year when I posted only eight times altogether, versus 107 blog posts in 2016) I see I weighed 243 lbs. Events at the end of 2017 were a bit chaotic but the last "official" weigh-in had me at 282 lbs. My ultimate goal is to reach 178 lbs by the end of this year. Based on past performance (losing about ten pounds a month) I think it's totally possible.

My friends who are familiar with my story know that I am currently in the process of moving back from Belgrade to my "spiritual home" of Missoula. I am already feeling more optimistic about the future, and about regaining 100% control of my diet and exercise. Sadly, my bathroom scales are packed away at the bottom of a cardboard box. It'll be another three weeks before they see the light of day again. In the meantime, I am sticking more closely to my former low carb diet and avoiding (as much as possible) sugar and wheat and corn. My new pants (the ones I had to grudgingly buy from the "Big & Tall" [a.k.a. fat people's] store a couple of weeks ago) feel like they're a bit loose now.

I'm looking forward to plenty of four-season hiking in the Missoula area on Mount Sentinal and Mount Jumbo, the Rattlesnake trails, Pattee Canyon, the Riverfront trail and the Blue Mountain trails. As the warmer weather returns, I'll be taking my motorbike with me on backpacking trips further afield. I'll also be scouting out sections of the ACA Lewis & Clark route (Highway 12) from Lewiston, Idaho, back to Missoula, in preparation for my 600-mile bicycle ride from Portland, Ore., in 2019. I'll be taking my camera(s) with me a lot more this year too.

I anticipate that there will be more opportunities for me to share the details of my progress and more news and photos in 2018 than in the year before. I'll be doing a lot more reading about the evils of added sugar and the virtues of a heavily plant-based (more vegetarian) diet. With so much of our body's energy expenditure (70%) going towards maintaining our basal metabolic rate, the marginal amount of extra energy burned through vigorous exercise is so small as to make extra exercise far less important than diet in our quest to lose weight. Exercise does have many other positive benefits though - it's just that it doesn't directly affect weight loss so much ("Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym!")

Bouncing back up - oh no! - 263 lbs

I'm going to blame it on my new work schedule (closing shifts which end at midnight) following a promotion. I've gained about 25 lbs since the beginning of the year 😱 .

Up from 238 to 263 lbs since January

So now, far from intermittent fasting, I'm finding that I'm hungry enough to eat four meals a day. And I'm not as strict as I need to be about eating low carb. Portion sizes are also a problem for me again.

I guess if it were easy to lose weight there'd be very few fat people around, right? I have to remember the words of Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon computer science professor who died of pancreatic cancer in 2008: "... The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough."

I need to remind myself of how good it felt when I was able to buy new clothing that was size XL - not XXXXXL. I want to experience what it's like to wear a Large with NO Xs, maybe even a Medium. I have a white button up shirt that will only fit me when I'm down to 230 lbs. I want to wear that shirt before the winter kicks in.

Next week I'm off on vacation for nine days. There are lots of activities planned as I head to the Oregon coast via Seattle. I'm going to enjoy myself without overindulging.

Turning the ship around - 249 (again)

Like a hulking great oil tanker in the Gulf of Mexico, making a slow and steady about-turn, I've had about three weeks of concerted effort to get myself back on track in terms of losing weight.

Broke through the 250 lb barrier again

After bouncing between 250 lbs and 260 lbs for a while, I weighed in at 249.6 lbs (113.2 kg) this morning. I'm sure it helps that we're at the perfect time of year to make headway: seasonal salad ingredients (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions) are plentiful and cheap. The long, light days and the warmer weather enable people to enjoy the outdoors more. Opportunities for walking, hiking, backpacking, cycling and so forth abound.

Last week I did another hike up to Lava Lake and stayed overnight. It was on a Wednesday (i.e. not a holiday or a weekend) so there weren't many other people up there (nor even any bears or mountain lions or goats). The solitude and peacefulness did allow me to think and ponder about big goals for the coming years. I REALLY want to conquer my "unfinished business" on the Pacific Crest Trail in southern Oregon and finally get to see Crater Lake in person, so that will be happening in 2018 - probably in late June.

Where has the time gone? - 255 :(

So many of my friends have been asking me, "Where are you?", and, "How are you doing?" It's been a while (more than three months) since my last blog post.

A lot has happened in the past few months. After leaving Helena last Septmeber, and quitting my secure state government job, I had moved to eastern Montana for a few weeks. Narrowly avoiding a disaster out there, I was in Missoula (my spiritual home) for a few months. I am now living and working in Belgrade (near Bozeman), Montana. As in Sidney, I'm working in a low-paid but a low-stress retail job. I'm very happy not to have to deal with computer software from companies I intensely dislike (Microsoft, Adobe, Apple - yuck!) I do miss some of the people I used to work with.

My weight loss progress had stalled temporarily (see the chart below):

From 320 to 236 and up to 255 lbs again...

My diet has changed a bit from before. At the moment it's not all low carb like it was for the previous 18 months (but it's still mostly vegetables and protein). I still struggle from time to time with portion control (hard to resist when the food tastes so good!)

In terms of exercise, I wish that I had embraced the Montana snow and cold weather better than I did last winter. Despite my best intentions, I just can't say that I love the freezing temperatures. I did go snowshoeing a couple of times, and I now have the gear to be able to go again in November/December when the next lot of heavy snow inevitably comes again.

I have been hiking a bit; to Lava Lake near Big Sky and Drinking Horse mountain outside Bozeman, as well as some of the Blue Mountain trails just south of Missoula. I'm looking forward to being able to go backpacking and camping in the next month or two, and I still haven't given up on the idea of hiking a significant part of the Pacific Crest Trail near Crater Lake in Oregon (maybe in 2018).

Where I'm living now, we have the Bridger Mountains to the northeast, the Tobacco Root Mountains to the southwest, the Big Belt Mountains and Horseshoe Hills to the northwest, the Hyalite Peaks of the northern Gallatin Range to the south and the Spanish Peaks of the northern Madison Range to the southwest. The opportunities for climbing and hiking in some of the most picturesque mountains in Montana are limited only by time and the weather.

I'm still cycling, a litte bit but not as much as I'd like to. I haven't found a good place to learn T'ai Chi yet or to start boxing.

At the same time, I am regaining my interest in photography, thanks to my sister. I'm also trying to get back into watercolor painting, reading and writing - some creative endevors that are relaxing and stimulate my mind.

So, my friends, that's the quick version of what I've been up to these past three or four months. If any of you are up for a three to ten-mile hike some time in central or western Montana, let me know. If the nighttime temperature is above the low-40s Fahrenheit, I'd be up for an overnight backpacking hike too. My days off work are typically Wednesdays and Thursdays.

243 - My 'marker' for the start of 2017

This is going to be the year of breakthroughs and more victories. After a fantastic New Year's Eve weekend, 2017 has started with a bang.

243.0 lbs (110.2 kg)

Two key words for this year: "Mindfulness" and "Purposefully". The ongoing changes; the low carb diet and the increased exercise and activity regimens will continue. New activities will be added. New partners in the journey of life will join me (well, one anyway!)

And, that brings up the third new key word for the year: "Inspirer", one who inspires others. Having surpassed the halfway point of my own metamorphosis or transformation, I feel like I want to inspire others to make positive changes in their lives. I want others to feel the benefits of losing weight, eating nutritious meals prepared mindfully and with love. Wouldn't it be great to HAVE TO buy new clothes because the old ones are far too big and baggy? That was my position a few months ago, and I'm there again now. I can tell you, when you've had to wear clown pants (sweatpants with a 60" waist) for so long, to fit into a 40" waist fashionable pair is a FANTASTIC feeling!

Here's the important thing: IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN ANYONE if they are motivated enough. Honestly, I'm not Superman. I don't have a red cape and a big 'S' on my chest. I'm just a 50 year old guy who is willing to do what it takes to reach my goal.

238 - under two hundred and forty

Another quick one today:

238.6 lbs (108.2 kg)

238.6 pounds. I'm going to look into the role of coffee drinking in weight loss. I've noticed that I'm drinking a lot of coffee lately, which coincides with my rapid losses. But, "correlation does not imply causation" is a phrase often used in statistics. More later...

240 - Unstoppable

Few words (today), just:

240.4 lbs (109 kg)

Two hundred and forty pounds.

244 - The fantastic year is ending with a bang

With only three weeks to go until the end of the calendar year, I've been contemplating what has happened in the past 12 months and what the future has in store for me. I'm excited! Usually, by now, I have already sent out my annual Christmas cards with their 'round-robin' letters. My friends all know how much I love to send (and receive - hint!) letters and cards in the mail. Anyway, it truly has been a fantastic year, and the best is yet to come!

January started out with me weighing 336 pounds (152.5 kg). This morning:

243.8 lbs (110.6 kg)

243.8 pounds, 92 lbs lighter in twelve months. Losing nearly eight pounds a month on average is a good, healthy amount. 

I was still living in Helena at the time (in January 2016), still working for the Dept of Public Health and Human Service in a job that had me practically tied to a desk all day answering a phone. I was walking the ⅔ mile each way to work (a 100 foot elevation difference so, yes, it was uphill both ways 😜), including in the middle of winter with all its snow and ice (and I can honestly say, I never missed a single day because of the weather). At this point I hadn't been riding my bike, which was still stored in my hall closet. I also hadn't substantially started hiking yet, although I had started to make plans to go to southern Oregon and see Crater Lake as part of a 100-mile PCT hike that was scheduled for the end of May. 

In July I had decided that I was financially stable enough to be able to leave my job and move to my "spiritual home" (where I'm actually living now) of Missoula, MT. There was a short 'blip' when I was in Sidney (eastern Montana) for a few weeks. My close friends know the details of that little escapade (temporary insanity? 😵) Anyway, I moved to the Garden City at the beginning of November and have been able to get back on my program (such that there is one - low carb diet and more exercise, basically) with great results. I've been riding my now-heavily-accessorized bike a lot (weather permitting), and walking more than ever before. 

So, next year I'm looking forward to finally reaching my final target - 178 lbs or (80.7 kg) which, for a 5' 10" guy (1.78 m) is still a BMI of 25.5 - so, technically, still overweight. I should be there by, say, mid-July. But, you know what? If it takes me until August, or September, or even December, I'm not that bothered. It's all a heck of a lot better than 405 lbs (June 2015) or 428 lbs (June 2014)!! Of course, there's the question of what to do about the 20 pounds of excess, flapping skin that will be hanging off me all over the place. "Surgery!" (I imagined myself saying that in a ringing, singing voice).

I still have some objectives to meet. I still want to find a place to do some boxing to help develop my upper body musculature. I still want to find a place to do T'ai Chi to help with the physical and mental/spiritual balance. I still want to do a long-distance bicycle ride (Portland, Oregon, is still looking attractive as either the destination or the starting point for that little tour). I really want to start dancing again. I have such fond memories of my daughter and I going to some contra dances in Helena, but that was six and seven years ago! I know that those things are all available here in Missoula, it's just a question of time and money, and making it a big enough priority. 

If you're in Missoula and you're interested in contra dancing, the Missoula Folklore Society has dances twice a month (first and third Saturday) from October through May (http://www.missoulafolk.org). Maybe I'll see you there? Oh, and Sara Bareilles? I'm still waiting for your phone call to ask me to be in a future music video of yours ("Brave" was brilliant! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQsqBqxoR4.) 

And, I haven't given up on wanting to complete my PCT hike, or climbing Mount Hood ("Go BIG or go home!", right?) I have unfinished business to take care of in Oregon, and I'm not going to let it beat me! 

I still want to expand my répertoire of mostly plant-based (but not exclusively vegetarian) recipes and learn some new cooking styles and techniques. I still want to learn and practise my own food growing, canning and preserving. Not that I want to be all "prepper" self-sufficient, but a little better preparedness doesn't hurt (interestingly, even after living in the US for 20 years now, I've still never fired - much less held - a gun. I get that question from my English friends all the time). 

In the short term, I want to start enjoying the winter (I never imagined that THOSE words would ever come out of my mouth!) I want to try snowshoeing (or cross country skiing, maybe). 

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom-of-night
stays this man from going outside."

2017 is going to be another fantastic year. If I can take some friends with me, old ones or new ones, it'll be that much better. If I can leverage the new-found knowledge and experience of healthy eating and exercise and weight-loss, and get myself a better job, or even just use it to HELP other people, I'll be delighted. 

246 today - Happy Thanksgiving!

Back in early February (so, nine and a half months ago), I published this:

"Having previously published some target weights, and failed to hit the latter ones, I have revised my aims and come up with a new path to success; one that is more realistic, if somewhat longer."

After a bit of a blip in the middle of the year, and moving house twice recently, I'm back on track. With almost a week to go until the end of November, I'm only four pounds away from my published target. 

Date	Target	Actual
2/27/2016	321	322
3/30/2016	312	316
4/30/2016	303	313
5/31/2016	294	296
6/28/2016	286	296
7/30/2016	277	286
8/30/2016	268	284
9/30/2016	259	277
10/28/2016	251	?
11/29/2016	242	246
12/30/2016	233
1/30/2017	224
2/27/2017	216
3/31/2017	207
4/27/2017	199
5/29/2016	190
6/29/2017	181
7/10/2017	178

It's still a very ambitious plan, but I don't see why I can't achieve this, given the history and the ongoing motivation. The next significant goal is to be under 233 lbs by the end of the year.

246.6 lbs (111.8 kg) today

There will be more changes, more good stressors (eustress, as opposed to distress), and more successes to come.

249 - Progress continues

Just a quick update this time. This morning I stepped on the scales and they said:

249.0 lbs (113 kg)

249 pounds! The move to Missoula has been really good for me, not just mentally but physically too.

Lost 150 pounds in 17 months - all natural

Back in June 2015, I had made a decision to improve my health and lose weight. At the time, I weighed 405 pounds (having peaked at an incredible 428 lbs the summer before). I changed my domestic circumstances, moved into my own apartment, was once again 100% in control of the food I bought and prepared and ate. I deliberately put myself in a position where I HAD to walk to work (it was only 2/3 mile, but it was better than not walking at all). I started walking everywhere, hiking and climbing small mountains (for fun!) 

In May 2016, I attempted (this time unsuccessfully - but it won't always have me beaten) to walk 100 miles next to the Pacific Crest Trail (not actually on the PCT because there was too much snow, at the end of May!) I left my desk-bound job of five years in September and moved to Sidney, MT. I started working in a grocery store, expending A LOT more energy than I have in a long time (but also eating more, and more carb-laden foods than normal). Now, it's the middle of November. I've been on this new program (new regime, metamorphosis, call it what you will) for 17 months, and I've lost 150 pounds (68 kg, for my continental cousins). 

I'VE LOST 150 POUNDS IN 17 MONTHS!

I moved house again last week, this time to my "spiritual home" of Missoula ("a place where you feel you belong, although you were not born there, because you have a lot in common with the people, the culture, and the way of life.") I still need to find a new job, but that will come very soon.  The good diet continues now. The increased exercise continues. The improved health continues. In two week's time I will be turning 50, and I'm determined not to slow down or go back to where I was. 

Me, at the 'M' on Mount Sentinel in Missoula, yesterday

As the brilliant Zig Ziglar used to say, "See you at the top!" 

254 - How low can he go?

In Bug's Life (1998), when the stick insect "Slim" is encouraging the ant Princess Atta to do the limbo dance, he asks her, "How low can you go?" Well, now I'm asking myself that question.

254.6 lb today (115.5 kg)

This morning I tipped the scales at 254.6 lbs.

259 - unstoppable at the moment (back on the low carb diet)

Another day, another pound or two off.

258.8 lbs (117.4 kg)

Now that I'm 100% in control of the food I buy and prepare and eat again, the weight is simply dropping off.

My new local grocery store had whole chickens (not organic, but "raised without antibiotics") on sale for 99¢/lb, so I bought a 5 lb bird for $5, trimmed off the two large breast pieces for another time. I had the oven-baked legs and wings this evening with some broccoli, and used the carcass for a tasty soup stock with rutabaga (swede), turnips, parsnips and carrots, plus some herbs and diced green and red peppers - no pasta. It was very tasty and made several large portions of soup.

I've also been able to eat my spinach and eggs for breakfast again, which has been great.

Eggplants (aubergines) were on sale too, so I bought one to slice and bake with some tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese - no bread crumbs (maybe I should get some fresh mozzarella too?). If I had access to a fully equipped kitchen, I would love to make baba ganoush all the time (basically, baked eggplant mixed with tahini, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and parsley). Interestingly (botanically) eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes and peppers are all part of the same nightshade (Solanaceae) family. I can happily skip the potatoes, but I love all the others.