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!
6 comments:
I appreciate reading your blog. I started off around 324, so in the same vicinity as you. Today is the end of Week 1 for me. I know they say men lose more weight on this as women, but you've given me some daydreams about what IS possible and boy wouldn't I like to be down 61 pounds! Thanks for the inspiration! And, I'm a lawyer too....although real estate...and retired.
Keep with it. I think you'll be happy with your results. How are you enjoying your retirement? I find it hard to imagine being retired (I'm about 14 years into the career), but my friends who are retired seem to really enjoy it.
You've started a nice blog! I was 284 when I started and I am about 214 now. My goal weight is 170. I have been on Optifast for 13 weeks now and I still want to grab to slice of pizza. That being said, the temptation is not nearly as great as it used to be. Still miss the nice steak and hamburger though. I am getting ready to start the transition phase in another few weeks and I have already been looking at how I am going to manage my meals. I will be cooking and freezing a lot more I think. Thanks for sharing your story.
I graduated from law school in 1981 and retired in 2004 to do other things. Since then I went back to school and became a massage therapist; volunteered at a prison, hospice, VA hospital and was a massage therapist for the Detroit Lions for two seasons. I have to say I don't miss it. I have so many other interests that I am now able to explore, that it's really wonderful. And I've started daydreaming about being this tall, hot redhead who weighs considerably less than I do now. I started this for my health...I need to have hip replacement surgery (arthritis brought on by excessive weight) and am now really into this. I have always been overweight although only this high in the past several years. My high weight was actually 361. I lost 80 pounds on Atkins in 2011 and put back about 40 of it. I'm very motivated and so far it's going well.
Dave, it's inspiring to me to see someone like you a little further down the road doing so well. A quote from the movie The Edge with Anthony Hopkins often comes to my mind during this diet- "What one man can do, another man can also do." Congrats on being 44 pounds away and for having your transition plan in place. I think in another 30 pounds, I'm going to start practicing making my transition meals (I'll just feed them to my wife and her sister. Hopefully they'll be edible!). Yeah, I don't think I'll ever lose the appreciation for steak and hamburger, but the age of veggies, beans and legumes beckons..
Julia,
Sounds like you had an interesting post-law career. I think only time separates you from being the tall, hot redhead that you envision. My high weight was in the 360's also- hopefully we'll both be very successful!
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