Celebrating my wife's bday, while losing weight!

I'm writing this blog entry mostly while on the Queen Mary. It's a ship bigger than the Titanic that is rumored to be haunted, though the scariest thing I've seen here is a T-bone steak (more on that later). I spent the weekend here for my wife's birthday, which was a lot of fun, but not without its challenges as far as my diet goes.

The two big temptations at celebrations for fat men like me are plentiful food and alcohol. Now, I've never been much for alcohol, outside of the occasional mixed drink, but it is still strange to toast using an Optifast shake. (At a previous b-day party, I had fun toasting with shots of water!) And, after twelve weeks of this diet, I've gotten used to people eating around me. What I wasn't quite prepared for was sitting at a table, where I was surrounded by people eating juicy t-bone steaks. Maria's salads don't tempt me much, but the steaks... Lord have mercy, lol. Sometimes it's very clear to me just how I gained this much weight!

Speaking of weight, I initially thought that I'd be headed for a big weight loss this week because the gym scale showed me at about an 8 pound drop on Monday. It turns out that I only lost 3.5 pounds. Disappointing in a sense, but as long as the weight loss is dropping, life is going well. I've recently "rediscovered" my waist- before I would always wear my pants below the bulge of the belly, but now that my waist has reemerged with the weight loss, I can wear my pants where they are supposed to sit. Of course, this means another trip to the tailor...

I am almost ready to use my 46 long suits, I think just a few more weeks- the blazers fit tightly now, so perhaps as a goal, by my niece's wedding next month, I should be wearing a 46 long. My old hugo boss suit (from law school) and a few ebay suits that I bought are just waiting for me on the clothes rack and I'm eager to move on from my heavily tailored 50 long suits. Today, I wore a pair of pants that were so loose in the legs that I felt like an attorney version of MC Hammer!

I'm not sure what my final suit size will be. A lot depends on how much volume I re-add to my frame when I start weight lifting. I've been on the hunt for a good weight bench and a set of dumbells. I'm also debating whether to hire a personal trainer. My last trainer was excellent, but because of time commitment I was constantly having to cancel our appointments. Still time to think about it, though. Seventy more pounds to go... Piece of cake, right? (or maybe Not a piece of cake..)


Week 1- 5/8/14 334.5 16.5 318
Week 2- 5/15/14 318.0 6.9 311.1
Week 3- 5/22/14 311.0 5.1 306
Week 4- 5/29/14 306 6.0 300
Week 5- 6/5/14 300 4.5 295.5
Week 6- 6/12/14 295.5 3.0 292.5
Week 7- 6/19/14 292.5 8.5 283
Week 8- 6/26/14 283 4.5 278.5
Week 9- 7/3/14 278.5 5.0 273.5
Week 10- 7/10/14 273.5 1.5 272
Week 11- 7/17/14 272 8.0 264
Week 12- 7/24/14 264 3.5 260.5

74 pounds lost.

Seventy Pounds and Counting!

That's me in my wedding tuxedo! I'm planning to use it for my niece's wedding in late August- I know that you're only supposed to use a tux if you're the groom or in the wedding party, but since this may be the last time that a 48 long tuxedo fits me...(I write this with fingers crossed!)

Anyway, this was a very good week! The tally is another eight pounds lost with seventy and a half total pounds lost. And I made it below the second one of my "benchmark" weights (300, 265, 235, 215 and 200 pounds are my significant benchmarks) A long time ago, my brothers pressured me to lose step on a scale because they were concerned about my weight gain post college. I'm actually fairly tough to pressure into anything (unless you're a pretty Latina that married me about a decade ago...), but I reluctantly stepped on the scale, slightly curious. Would I weigh 240 now, 250? I was shocked to see that I was 265! I think I spent the next week at the gym...

God, if I only knew I would weigh above 350 someday. Anyway, now in an ironic turn, I'm thrilled to be weighing "only" 264!

I do realize that I still have another seventy pounds to lose, but it feels great to be halfway there. And, thanks to my height, I don't look seventy pounds over weight. (Maybe 60 pounds overweight? lol) My clothes have all been to the tailor once or twice and I'm not too far away from fitting into my stock of 46 longs. In fact, I'm already thinking less about weight loss and more about the rebuilding of my muscles and the future eating plan that I'll need to keep the weight off.

In other news, my class on meditation was nothing short of amazing. I went in, armed with jokes about Kung Fu Panda and hippies. I left with all my preconceptions shattered. I felt so great after the class- relaxed, energetic and...kind of at peace. The last exercise they had us do was called a "body check" and it was a guided meditation where we focused on different parts of our body. Just fantastic. (as an aside, I felt my ribs after the exercise and was surprised that I could feel my rib cage! Guess I'd been to heavy to feel them before..)

It was an interesting mix of people- there was a type A businessman, a doctor in residency, meditation teachers looking to brush up their skills and some people who were open about huge problems in their life that they were hoping meditation would cure. There was a lady getting over the death of her daughter, another woman there on her birthday and a mother whose out of state son had sent her to the place that he researched as the best to help her deal with her stress!

I had a feeling that I was in the right place, though meditation doesn't come easy to me. My mind has always been restless and it's hard to focus the myriad thoughts running through my head to focus on just my breathing, for instance. But I think it's worth pursuing the discipline in meditation. It may help make this weight loss permanent.

Week 1- 5/8/14 334.5 16.5 318
Week 2- 5/15/14 318.0 6.9 311.1
Week 3- 5/22/14 311.0 5.1 306
Week 4- 5/29/14 306 6.0 300
Week 5- 6/5/14 300 4.5 295.5
Week 6- 6/12/14 295.5 3.0 292.5
Week 7- 6/19/14 292.5 8.5 283
Week 8- 6/26/14 283 4.5 278.5
Week 9- 7/3/14 278.5 5.0 273.5
Week 10-7/10/14 273.5 1.5 272
Week 11-7/17/14 272 8.0 264

One and a half steps forward?

Cue the disaster music! After consistently losing about four to five pounds a week, I stepped on the scale last Thursday and it barely moved. Only a pound and a half lost.. Unexpected, but really I should have seen it coming. Everyone else in my weight loss group has had weeks like this. This was just my turn.

I'm taking a philosophical approach to this- I can't control my results, but I can control my actions and I followed the diet without cheating for a 10th week. Seventy days without tasting juicy hamburgers with bacon, Kung Pao Chicken at my uncle's place, Fillipis' pizza, or the ice cream cake I bought my assistant for his B-day (pictured here). (Can you tell that I still think about food? lol) And I'm still losing the pounds, so I can afford to be patient. As my wife tells me, I didn't become fat overnight...though sometimes it feels like it. I look in the mirror and if I squint just right, I look almost like the 215 pound Berkeley student who boxed "just for fun." If I look further, then I see the jowl and the belly of an attorney with a few too many trips to the all you can eat area. This was "Just for fun," also, I guess, but I'm very glad I don't box anymore...I'd be an awfully big target!

Perhaps my new class in meditation will help me with all this as well. I start on Tuesday night over at UCSD. I must confess, though, that I have my reservations about trying this. I'm always criticizing my parents for jumping on every health food fad (Alkaline water, for instance). I laugh at my brother in law's medicinal ideas (he poured Gatorade on me when his dog bit me to speed the healing!). But now it's me that's going to be me sitting cross legged on a mat, maybe chanting a mantra? Has this UC Berkeley grad finally gotten in touch with his inner hippie? All I know is...studies do consistently show that meditation helps with stress, concentration and memory and I do need to deal with the stress level in my life...

So, I'll buy my yoga mat, light my incense candles (if required) and will try to keep an open mind for once. Kung Fu Panda coming to you soon...

Week 1- 5/8/14 334.5 16.5 318
Week 2- 5/15/14 318.0 6.9 311.1
Week 3- 5/22/14 311.0 5.1 306
Week 4- 5/29/14 306 6.0 300
Week 5- 6/5/14 300 4.5 295.5
Week 6- 6/12/14 295.5 3.0 292.5
Week 7- 6/19/14 292.5 8.5 283
Week 8- 6/26/14 283 4.5 278.5
Week 9- 7/3/14 278.5 5.0 273.5
Week 10- 7/10/14 272 1.5 272

This diet is driving me to drink!

Just kidding. No booze for me while in Mexico wine country. To paraphrase a friend, I get high off of Optifast!

So,it's been nine weeks and sixty pounds since I started the Optifast diet. Nine weeks is significant for me. As a younger man, I used to think that I could always get back into top shape after a lull with a good nine weeks back at the gym. Looking in the mirror, I think it's going to take a wee bit longer this time around, but at least my shape is slightly less round nowadays!

This Sunday took the bike out of the garage for the first time before the diet. After a half hour of looking for my helmet, I was late in meeting my buddy for the ride, so I picked up a helmet at the bike shop. An hour later, my buddy and I were back at that same bike shop because I broke the valve on my tire while pumping air into it. Fifteen minutes later, we were back again because I picked up the wrong type of inner tube..

Eventually though, my friend Louie and I managed a forty minute bike ride. Riding the bike felt better than it had in a long time. I was faster than I can remember being. In fact, on the way back, I looked behind me and realized that I'd left my friend far behind. Bikers often buy lighter carbon frames for their bikes in order to improve speed. I suppose that reducing my own frame by some sixty pounds does make a difference! Endurance-wise, I think I'm definitely going to need more calories if I want to bike ride much longer- maybe an extra shake.

I'm surprised that I've been basically perfect on the diet so far- no solid food in over sixty days! I think it's getting easier to resist eating, but at the same time I know that a slip up could happen at any time. When my wife and her friend were eating pizza at the winery this weekend, it was very tempting to reach over and grab a piece. I just tell myself that I'm close to a third of the way back to my college weight and... try not to stare too much at other people's food.

I sometimes wonder what a difference this weight loss will have in my professional life. Make no mistake, I'm losing the weight primarily for my health. I think I was headed to a heart attack and now I'm healthier than I've been in a long time. Blood pressure is perfect, blood sugar is very low without medication, and my sleep apnea may be gone. Still, people often tell me that losing weight would help me when it comes to getting clients because, I guess, people would prefer a skinny attorney. I hired a business coach for a few months and he also stressed the value of appearance and image.

I guess if you see me driving a BMW a year from now, then people were right about all this. (or, alternatively, if you see my wife driving a Land Rover!) But, on the other hand, I think I'd perfectly happy if you saw a skinny version of me driving the same beat up pickup.

Really, I'd just like to be fit and trim again. My goals for this year are to finish the Rosarito Ensenada bike race (50 miles)in September and to be able to run a 5k in November. I'm also looking forward to doing some serious weight lifting in November when I'm back to eating some solid food.

Week 1- 5/8/14 334.5 16.5 318
Week 2- 5/15/14 318.0 6.9 311.1
Week 3- 5/22/14 311.0 5.1 306
Week 4- 5/29/14 306 6.0 300
Week 5- 6/5/14 300 4.5 295.5
Week 6- 6/12/14 295.5 3.0 292.5
Week 7- 6/19/14 292.5 8.5 283
Week 8- 6/26/14 283 4.5 278.5
Week 9- 7/3/14 278.5 5.0 273.5

Sixty one pounds lost!