My motivation continue to be a problem and now it is having a negative effect. This week, I saw my first gain in a while. Maybe this will actually be a good thing and give me the kick in the but I have been needing to get back on track. The nutritionist says that it is pretty common to hit plateaus with weight loss. I can understand that as I have had some weeks where I lost 10 pounds and then others where I lost 2. To me It seems that my body adjusts to how I am eating. Which would make the large amount of weight I lost when I initially changed my eating habits more understandable. Then again, I can have weeks where I hit my calorie target almost every day and lose 2 pounds and then weeks where I am over by 600 - 1000 calories almost every day and lose 5 pounds. The nutritionist also said that it is pretty common to hit a low point at this time of year with it being the middle of winter and all. Between the post holiday low and the fact that there is a lot less sun during the day can lead to some serious gloom. Oh well, in any case I need to get things moving forward again. I am looking forward to spring!

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With the Christmas Holidays behind us, I had hoped to get things back on track quickly. While I have been doing ok, I haven’t been doing as well as I would like. While I am still loosing weight, I have not been eating near as good as I should be. I know this, but I seem to be having a problem getting myself back on track. In fact, it feels as if the train is now going in the opposite direction and I am running away from it. Add to that the feeling of what seems to be post holiday depression and the gloom of winter setting in, I just don’t really feel like trying right now. I would definitely have to say that since I started back in September, this seems to be the hardest point, and it almost seems like I should have more motivation now than before seeing as I have actually reached my short term goal of 400 pounds and I continue to loose weight. We will see what the next few weeks have in store. Hopefully I will be able to find some motivation and get back on track.

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So this week we had lots to get done. It was my girlfriend’s birthday and the end of the good weather. We decided to paint the front porch before it got too cold. That entailed a day out to get the supplies, which led to an outing at the chinese buffet. Not soo good for me as all my self control went flying out the window. Last friday also saw us hitting up another restaurant which had a salad and food bar. Bad, bad things happen when i go to these places. But, I keep on going. Between that and the birthday ice cream cake, it wasnt a very good week for me.

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So, we decided to just go to the fair one day during the week and let the kids skip school so we could all go as a family. We couldn’t have picked a better day. Bright sunny sky. warm, but not hot. And not packed like it can get at times. Some days they see 100,000 people. It seems like everywhere you turn at the fair there is another food stand. All kinds of good food. But when the day was done, I managed to go home not having eaten too much and we all had a blast even with all of the walking that needed to be done. That had to be the toughest part. Good thing they have a lot of benches.

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As a business owner and self employed programmer most of my days are spent working at the computer. But, for the most part I try and take some time off to do things with the family or watch some TV with my gf or just take some time off and get away from the computer. But, as with all aspects of life, sometimes things need to be done. There are deadlines to meet and schedules to keep. It just gets tough when those deadlines are for big projects that need to be done in 1/3 of the normal time they should take. It makes it even harder when you have to work like that while you are trying to change pretty much everything about your lifestyle with regards to how you eat and trying to add new physical activities to your day to day routine. It especially makes it hard to try and maintain a healthy eating and living schedule. The upcoming month or two should prove to be pretty interested and quite a challenge to staying on schedule with my diet and exercise plans. Lets hope the improved eating habits add the extra energy I need and lower the stress that is sure to come from some long nights of pounding away at the keyboard.

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Everything seems to be happening all at once. Seems like this is the time of year when I am busy, busy, busy. It is also the time of year when I want to eat, eat, eat! There is an annual fair about 30 minutes away that I have been going to for most of my life. I remember being there as a little kid, skipping classes in high school to go there when I was a little older and going there on my first date with my girlfriend and mother of my son 10 years ago. It has always been a big part of my life and will always be a big part of my family’s life. The problem is that as an adult, about the only thing to do at the fair is walk around, spend money and eat all kinds of good, good food! Sausage hoagies, cheese steaks, fried veggies, baked goods, Greek gyros, apple cider, pizza, chocolate covered bananas, cheese cake and ohh so many other good foods to eat all in one place and all so readily available just waiting to be stuffed down your throat and make you even fatter. It is going to be hard to control the desire to get all my favorites in one shot, but I think I am up for the task. Plus because we didn’t get the chance to go their last year, my woman tells me she will be dragging my fat ass there every day during the week. It should give me an opportunity to get some walking done, and also give me 5 days to spread my food cravings out over. Let’s hope for the best.

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Last month I was having some problems with a persistent sore throat, so I set up a doctors appointment for the first time in about 12 years. Since I was a new patient, I had to wait a month to get in to see the doctor. My appointment was last Friday. Until that point, I hadn’t really considered even going to the doctor to lose weight. I’m not a big fan of doctors and such. It always seems like they are quick to prescribe some sort of medication for this and another one for that and so on and so forth until you are taking medications to counteract the side affects of the first batch of medication. In the end it boiled down to the fact that I wasn’t looking forward to hearing about all the things that were wrong with me because I am a big fat ass. The sore throat turned out to be a result of allergies which I got an $80 prescription for (ouch!) and I still need to have some blood work done to find out all what may or may not be wrong with me. But, the good part of the trip was that the doctor I saw is going to refer me to a nutritionist, which I am looking forward to. I am hoping that it will help me further understand portion control and calorie counting as well as what might be better foods to eat.

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So, what’s my goal? Well, my current weight is 460 pounds and my target weight is 175, so my goal is to drop 285 pounds. And I plan on tracking every last step of the process I take right here. I am not expecting an overnight success. I am in this for the long haul. I figure If I am halfway to my goal a year from now, I am doing things right. That will be an average of 2 - 3 pounds per week. So, my long term goal is to drop 285 pounds before September 2008. My short term goal is to get my portion sizes under control, learn more about calorie counts and get started with some exercises.

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So, here is the first post. It would seem as though I am starting from scratch. But, that isn’t 100% true. I have read many books, listened to many people and tried many things in my past attempts at losing weight. I have learned a lot in my past attempts and I plan on using that knowledge this time around to do it right. Something I have always known, but never practiced (properly) was portion control. I am now finding out that this was probably my #1 reason for failure.

I never really put much thought into counting calories or paid much attention to portion suggestions on packages. I figured a bowl of cereal was a bowl of cereal, a glass of juice was a glass of juice and a plate of food was a plate of food. I just ate until I felt full, sometimes I ate until well beyond feeling full. I like to eat (obviously) and if I like something especially well, I eat a lot of it. A lot more than I should. As you might have guessed, it isn’t too easy to lose weight when you eat so much. (It only took me 33 years to put it al together.) This time around I am tracking what I eat, counting the calories and paying attention to the portion sizes. I started 1 week ago today and will be posting my daily meal logs under the Meal Tracking category so that I can see how things progress over time. So far I have learned that what I used to think was a normal sized portion is actual 2 - 3 times a normal sized portion. I am also finding out that I can feel full on a lot less than what I used to eat at one sitting.

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