tony_merlino

I started my weight loss & fitness program at the beginning of this year, pretty much as a New Years resolution that I actually planned for almost a month before the actual start date. (A month I used to excellent advantage, putting on almost 10 lbs ... sigh).

My goal has moved a number of times, (each time getting set lower), but it's been pretty steady at 155 lbs for a while. Today, for the first time in probably 7 years or so, the scale read 155.0 lbs.

I started at 227.5 as of January 2nd of this year, so I've lost a total of 72.5 lbs in about 7.5 months, or nearly 10 lbs per month on the average. My BMI has gone from 35 to 24; my waist size from 42" to 32", and my body fat percentage (measured using waist size, so it's not really accurate) has gone from almost 27% to below 18%. I'm sad to report, though, that my age has continued to increase, and I will still be 60 years old if I live for another few months.

Almost more importantly than the numbers, I've raided the attic, and all my old "skinny" clothes fit. Who says mens' suits go out of style after 27 years??? And tight, flare-bottom jeans are still COOL, especially on little old Italian-American guys from Joisey.

According to the spreadsheets I use for tracking, predicting and calculating things, I'm running a deficit of about 900 calories per day right now. I intend to increase my calorie consumption by about 400 calories for a month or so, track my weight, and then increase by 200 for a month, 100 for the next month etc, until my weight stabilizes. So that means I'll keep losing for a little while, albeit much more slowly. This was budgeted into the plan - I'd like to finish up at about 150 lbs by Christmas.

Why 150? Two silly reasons. One is that, years ago, when I rode a lot, that's what I weighed. The other is that about a year ago, when I started posting here, somebody said, "Face it, you're never going to be that 150 lb roadie again." Saying something like that to me is about the best way to make sure that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I haven't technically been a Clyde for a number of months, but I feel a kinship with a lot of the folks who post here because we're fighting the same battle. And based on my previous experience, I'm headed now for the hardest part of the battle, i.e. keeping the weight off. I'll need all the support I can get, and this is a great place to get it.

ThermionicScott 

Thread title sucks. Change it to "**** YEAH, I MADE IT! PICS INCLUDED!"

tony_merlino

I hear you. But, if you've been on this seesaw for as many years as I have, you'd know that the first day you see your goal weight on the scale is way too early to start posing for "Mission Accomplished!" photo-ops. But, maybe just to preserve the moment, I'll try to get some pictures, and dig around for a "before" shot. For obvious reasons, I wasn't that thrilled to have pictures taken at my high weight...

Talk to me in 3 or 4 years. If I'm still 150 lbs at that time, then I'll use your title.

jack002

I'm sad to report, though, that my age has continued to increase
If you find some way to fix that, be sure to let us know, ok?

tony_merlino

I can think of one surefire way, but you might not like it - it's kind of drastic...

CBuff

Congrats! 70+ pounds in 7 months is a great accomplishment - especially at your current weight.
I have been on a plateau the first half of this year after losing 25 pounds in the second half of last year.
I'm preparing myself for another second half push (after I return from vacation at the end of the month) and am inspired by your results.
Thanks for the encouragement!

rearviewbeer

goldfinch

Congratulations. And I hope we can really congratulate each other once a year into the future.

Black wallnut 

Way to go Tony! Hopefully the lifestyle changes you've made keep you on the healthy path. I can't wait to read of your cycling feats with the new weight.

aja8888

Hey Tony, congrats on the weight loss (and so quickly). Can you briefly describe the plan you used to get it to the point where you are now?

Thanks,

Tony A
Newbie....

fly7hotel

Ditto on the congrats!

I started my journey last October at 270lbs and got off the scale this morning at 193 (6'2"). My plan has been just tracking calories with the LiveStrong iPhone app and riding my bike almost every day. I've missed about 25 days since October but some of those had some non-bike activity. Ain't easy but it works and riding the bike is fun. My 9 year old appears to have gotten bitten by the cycling bug, perhaps I'll have company

Once a Clyde always a Clyde

tony_merlino

You bet, Goldfinch! As well as support one another in between. Losing the weight was easy. This is the tough part...

CJ C

+1 dude what you have done is huge dont undersell it

tony_merlino

I could write a lot about what I did (and what I plan to do to keep the weight off), but it's really close to the approach in The Hacker's Diet by John Walker. I had arrived at more or less the same approach on my own, and developed my own set of Excel sheets to track and predict stuff, but John Walker provides a bunch of software for free, as well as an excellent book on a no-nonsense way to lose weight and get healthily fit. It's not aimed at people who want to be ultra-athletes or anything - just people like me who want to be healthy and fit, but have other things as the main focus in their lives.

To summarize the approach: I figured out how many calories I could take in to achieve a desired rate of weight loss, then planned my meals accordingly. For those calories, I aimed for about 50% from carbohydrates, trying to keep those in the form of whole grains and higher fiber foods, (but not going nuts about it - I DID budget in fresh Italian bread from the bakery... ). The other 50% was made up of about 30% from protein and 20% from fats.

I'd tried both low-carb and high-carb approaches in the past, and this particular mix seemed to give me the most energy, carry me better to the next meal without feeling weak or horribly hungry, and let me lose weight quickly. Don't get me wrong - at 1200 calories per day or less, missing a mealtime is NOT pleasant. But this mix of nutrients seemed to at least get to the next mealtime without a lot of discomfort.

I tracked my weight every day using Excel sheets that I wrote. The software on The Hackers Diet site looks to be just as good, but Goldfinch turned me on to it after I had already written my own stuff, and my stuff was customized to my own body and my own brand of OCD, so I stuck to it.

One other thing: A lot of approaches have you "track" calories by entering in what you eat after the fact, and that works for a lot of people. I thought that was too much of a pain in the neck, so I took the approach of planning my meals in advance, or at least knowing what my calorie budget was for a particular meal. This last was useful for eating out - for example, Applebees has a 550 calories or less menu, and the stuff is surprisingly edible. A lot of restaurants have nutritional information for their menus online. So I use the livestrong site as well as others, but before the fact, not after. In other words, I'll use it to help me plan my meals and portions, before I even head to the grocery store. It's much easier for me to control my calories BEFORE they wind up on my plate.

That's about it - no big mystery. Eat less than your body needs to maintain it's current weight, and you lose weight. As far as minimizing my "achievement" is concerned, I have to say that losing weight isn't really the hard part - I've done it lots of times. I've been up and down in a nearly 100 lb range all my adult life, have lost as much as 93 lbs in a year, then gained it all back after a while. So, as I said, I'm not ready to declare victory until/unless I can keep this off for a number of years.

This time, I've recognized the compulsive/addictive nature of my eating behavior, and I'm determined to not fall into the patterns that always caused me to gain the weight back. I've compiled a list of "never eat again" foods - things that I loved, but that always seemed to set off binges of gluttony for me. This list includes almost all junk-foods and desserts, high salt/high fat stuff like pizza (that breaks my heart!!!) and Chinese take-out, french fries, etc. So, just as an alcoholic needs to accept that he can never have another drink, ever, ... (DAMHIKT), I have to approach my "trigger foods" the same way.

I think I wrote more than I intended... but hopefully it will be helpful.

epiking

Thanks for the info and the inspiration...
Congrats