My Fat Pants

what's different about these biege/khaki pants?
Originally uploaded by :: Wendy ::

I haven't update in awhile because of the cold I previously mentioned. I ended up going to the doctor and getting anti-biotics and a decongestant. All in all, thanks to not eating and dehydration, I lost ten pounds while sick! Thankfully with some fluids, my weight went back to a more reasonable level and I'm back on track to lose weight the right way.

Today I stopped and picked up two new pair of pants. My current pants bunch up weird when I pull my belt tight enough to hold them up, so it was time for new ones. I took a pair of 56's and 58's to the dressing room and while both fit, the 56's were still a little snug. SO I'm only down one size, but now I officially have my fat pants.

What are fat pants, you say? Well, those are the pants I can hold up proudly in front of myself once I've lost all the weight I'm aiming to lose. A giant pair of pants in front of a slender body is apparently the best way to show off just how far you've come.

He Shoots, He Scores!

Soccer goal
Originally uploaded by ewiemann

So while I normally don't like to toot my own horn or boast, I would like to announce that for the first time in my weight loss journey, I've met one of my goals! I wanted to lose ten pounds in January and I did it! I weight from 400.8lbs to 390.4lbs, even with a few bad weekends. I could lose more if I stuck to my eating plan 100%, but I know myself and I know that my weight loss chart will always look more like a series of hills than a water slide.

I'm sure that one of my sources of motivation this past month has been this blog. Even if only a few people are reading it, I know that someone is keeping tabs on me. Sharing your goals means that if you fail, you have to tell someone!

Here we go again! February is a little shorter than January, so it will be a little harder, but I'm aiming for 380lbs by the end of the month. I've also added a Flickr photo album to my blog with the charts of my weight loss since I started. I use the tools over at the Hacker's Diet Online to track my weight because I really like the trend line. Even if I have one bad day, it lets me know that over all, I'm still losing.

Jaguars are Obligate Carnivores

Jaguar
Originally uploaded by _guu_

On almost every weightloss forum I visit, there are challenges. Most of them seem to center around the Biggest Loser but I have seen others like 25 Pounds by Christmas and things like that. The basic idea is the same -- everyone signs up, weighs in weekly and the winner is whoever loses the most pounds/percentage of pounds. The prize? Well, the praise at the end is nice, but the real prize is better health through team-based motivation.

For the last six weeks, I've been participating in a challenge over on fatsecret called Ride 'em which was cowboy themed. I didn't get into the theme as much as the energetic women on my team, but let me just say that I've never been called "partner" more in my life. All in all, the challenge went really well -- I lost 16 pounds in six weeks, which was short of the challenge goal of 1% per week, but I still did well. Overall, my team came in third place!

Well, the new challenge starts today. Same rules, but the theme is racing or Are you born to be wild?. This time, I'm not only the member of a team, but I'm the leader of one! I volunteered to lead and let me just say that the Green Jaguars are going to kick butts and take names. Every few days, I'm supposed to send motivational notes and articles to my team while commenting on their journals to help them along.

How can I lose motivation when I'm responsible for motivating other people? I can do this, it will be awesome. 6% in six weeks wound leave me roughly twenty-four pounds lighter by St. Patrick's Day. That seems like the perfect reason to celebrate with an Irish Carbomb.

Tracking with a Pedometer

1963
Originally uploaded by Jasmic

I got a pedometer for Christmas and since then, I've kept it tucked in my pants to see how far I walk every day. On days that I get outside for a twenty minute walk, I average about 4,500 steps and on other days about 2,000. As you can tell, I lead a pretty sedentary lifestyle - my daily routine is bed, car, desk, car, desk, bed.

According to a recent study, to get on par with people who are of normal weight, I need to walk about 12,000 steps per day. Effectively, that means that I need to take 4 twenty minute walks per day. I could also walk faster, which is what I'll probably end up doing.

My first goal will be a specific number of walks per week. At the moment, I typically only walk when my stress levels dictate it. I'll start off aiming for 4 twenty minute walks per week. Only a seventh of the end goal, but it is a definite start!

One Down, Twenty Three to Go

Wide leather belt
Originally uploaded by Leather Art Studio

I don't know if this is normal for over weight men, but my belt has two "modes" as I like to call them. One is where I normally wear it and the other is "super carrying mode" which is tighter than regular and helps hold my pants up when I have to carry something. My wife often teases me about this, but the simple truth is that if I tighten my belt to the point where it can hold my pants up, it is uncomfortable while sitting. Just the way my stomach folds when I'm sitting makes it uncomfortable.

When I bought my current belt, I had to get the biggest one the Big-and-Tall store had and, at first, I wore it on the very last hole. Now after losing 25 pounds, I can comfortably wear it on the second to last hole instead. The holes seem about an inch apart, so I figure that means my waist is 59 inches now -- 26 inches from my goal. I do have a real tape measure somewhere, but I can't seem to find it.

The bad news is that when I need to carry something, I now pull the belt tight enough that I'm using the very last hole. Because of the style of belt, I won't be able to punch my own holes in it. More weight loss means I'll need a new, smaller belt. Oh, I guess that really isn't bad news at all.

Step right up!

Come one, come all -- see the miraculous corpulence cure!

Welcome to my blog. My name is Jon and this is my journey to go from 400+ pounds go a reasonable weight for my height. According to BMI, thats about 183, but in the end, I think I'm going to end up basing it off my body-fat percentage and waist size. I heard the other day that your waist size should be half of your height, so when I'm donning 36" pants, I'll rejoice.

Over the past two years, I've tried all the diet snake oil I could find. I've tried liquid diets, mono-food diets, plans that claimed exercise wasn't needed or that I could eat whatever I wanted. I probably would have tried more if some of the more outlandish ones weren't also expensive.

But lately, I've been listening to the podcasts of some guys who have lost weight and kept it off doing things that seem completely reasonable to me: eating nutritious food and exercising. Each of them have followed different plans, from Dr. Atkins program to Dr. Ornish' plan.

How am I planning to get my weight down and keep it like that?

"Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it."
-- Bruce Lee

I'm going to try out different eating and exercise plans that seem sensible to me. My current plan is to try each one for a month, take the parts of it that worked for me and add them to an ever growing list that is my diet. I'm sure I'll also pull in information from the various diet and fitness blogs I read on a daily basis.

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."
-- Mark Twain

My first goal is to get below 400 before the end of the year and maintain that weight into January. I want this to be the last year that the scale ever says 400+ for me.