Daily ramblings

Update!

2012-11-28T14:24:00.000-08:00

As you have probably noticed, this blog really isn't very active. Honestly, the reason is simple. I don't have anything to write about. The procedure of losing weight is incredibly simple and easy to learn, so there isn't much wisdom to share. The motivation needed to start working on weight loss is hard, but that's something I can't give a lot of advice about, simply because everyone works differently.

Instead, I thought I should give you an update.

Right now, I'm sitting at 101.6 kg total. Considering I started at 200 kg or more, which is around 400 lbs, this means that up until now, I've lost a total of 98.4 kg or nearly 217 lbs. I'm still not done, but the weight loss is gradually, as expected, slowing down. These days, I'm losing about 3-4 kg every month, on average, and I expect a bit less than that in December. I'm not really sure what my goal weight will be, but I'll probably be reaching it by the end of winter, or maybe in the early spring. Of course, you know what all of this means, right?

217 lbs lost in 14 months!

I've started to work more on fitness as of recent, since I need to fill that loose skin with something. To immediately answer that question, yes, there is plenty of loose skin, but it's manageable and it will get better once the final bits of weight are lost.

To put it shortly, I'm getting there. The goal is within my reach now. I might post a couple of pictures soon, but I won't make any promises. It is the Internet, after all.

Opinion: Cheat Meals

2012-09-15T03:28:00.000-07:00

I very often, on various blogs and community sites, encounter the concept of cheat meals. The idea is, you work hard on your weight loss, so every now and then, maybe once a week, or once every couple of weeks, you threat yourself by having a cheat meal or even a cheat day, when you can eat anything and as much as you want. It sounds like a good idea. That way, you can still enjoy the things you love, but you don't feel to bat about it, since you only get to enjoy it after working hard on losing that weight.

In my opinion, however, it's a very bad idea. Here's why.

We didn't get fat by being OK with food. We got fat by having an unhealthy relationship with it. Now, after we finally started working on losing that weight, we start treating food as a reward system. Does that sound like a healthy relationship? No, it doesn't. By planning cheat meals we are further worsening our already unhealthy relationship with food. That's not a good way to change your life. That's a good way to create a life of constant hard work to keep that weight off, or even to increase the chance of a future relapse. You don't work around your food addiction by making food something to look forward to, you work to get rid of the problem entirely.

Instead of giving yourself rewards, work on changing your disposition so eventually don't need or want those rewards. I'm not an extremist here. I'm not saying food is just fuel, and you shouldn't enjoy it. Food is delicious, and there's a lot of enjoyment to be had with it. You just need to enjoy it in a healthy way, like all things in life - in moderation.

Don't give up on stuff completely, just work on eating a bit less of the bad stuff. Use smaller plates to improve your perception on portion size. Eat smaller portions in general. Start being more active in general. A good exercise session can provide you with as much enjoyment as a box of pizza, once you learn to enjoy it. All this things will give little in return at first, and they're gonna be hard, but they will help change you and perhaps even fix the thing that caused you to get fat.

A cheat meal wont. A cheat meal will cause you to live from that cheat meal to the next, and hate all the stuff in-between.

Loose Skin

2012-08-22T02:59:00.000-07:00

Loose skin is a source of fear for a lot of people, especially those who have been watching some of those weight loss reality shows. There's a couple of reasons why no one should be afraid of it.

It's always the lesser of two evils

I'm serious. If you ever had so much excess weight that loose skin would be a possibility after the loss, then your weight did far more damage to you (both health and looks) than any amount of loose skin would. If looks is your main concern, you can look good with loose skin and clothes. With excess weight, and I'm speaking from experience, you won't be looking good with any clothing item. I won't even mention the beach.

It isn't as bad as people make it look

When you see all those people having several square feet of folds on their body after a serious weight loss, it's scary. It would scare anyone, even those who don't have weight issues. The reality is, and I don't mean anything bad by this, those people still have weight to lose. In most cases, the very last of your excess fat reserves stays in those folds. If you keep losing fat once you come to that point, those folds will empty out, and they will snap back, at least a bit. Once a weight loss goal is properly reached, there won't be any major folds. You'll just have thin layers of loose and wrinkled skin, sot of like cellulite, but far more wrinkled.

I'm noticing this on my arms right now. It sort of looks like chicken skin, extremely wrinkled, but not hanging as much as it did in the past. Don't get me wrong, it still very much is hanging, but it's definitely receding back as I lose more and more fat.

There are things you can do

You won't be stuck with loose skin forever. First of all, if you're young, you have a good chance it will snap back completely in about a year, maybe two. If you're not, or if you're an extreme case like me, then there's still options. You can get surgery. It can cost a lot, but if you're lucky, your insurance might cover at least part of it. The best way to get coverage is to stick to losing that weight. From what I hear, insurance companies tend to support people who lost their weight the right way, and stuck to it for a while, because those people have a reduced chance of going back to their previous weight.

Some day, you'll understand

OK, this sound lame, but It has to be said. Right now, you're still losing weight. You're still working with psychological issues that put you in the situation you started with. You might even be still thinking, it's not worth it. I'd rather be fat than have loose skin.

This will stop eventually. You'll begin to understand those aren't your real positions on weight loss. You'll begin to understand that this was just your brain sabotaging you. Once you get used to your new lifestyle, you seriously wont mind that much.

Update! Also: How my weight loss works

2012-08-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

Haven't been posting for a while, so I thought I'd give you a quick update. I work well in 5kg milestones, so I thought I should let you know that, since a couple of days ago, I am 85.1kg down in total. Well, I'm saying that, but in fact, I might be even more.

You see, I started weighing myself when I was at 181 kg. Before that, I did not own a scale that could weigh me. I only assume I was at around 200kg based on the speed of loss after I started weighing myself. The reality is, this was a conservative assumption, and it might very well be that I was a couple of kilos above 200 when I started.

In any case, I'm at least 85.1kg down right now, which is 187.6 lbs.

It's not a steady loss, though. It used to be, back when I was loosing closer to 10 kg a month, my weight would steadily drop every day. Back then, my weight would drop about 200 grams daily, with every few days being a bigger drop of about half a kilogram. These days, when I lose about 6 kg a month, I usually increase by 200 grams a day, while having a drop of about 2 kilograms every once in a while. Basically, it fluctuates much more, but overall, I still get a nice drop every month.

Now, I have no issues with this. I understand it needs to fluctuate, and I keep track of everything, so I'm always confident I'm not actually gaining any weight. However, for some, this might be discouraging, so to those, I probably wouldn't recommend weighting themselves more often than once a week. Once you get closer to your goal and it slows down even more, once a month might even be enough, as long as you don't get lazy and stick to your routine. As for me, I do it every day, because I love data and don't mind the fluctuations.

The Speed of Losing Weight

2012-08-12T11:28:00.001-07:00

As I said, since the second half of September, to this date (middle of August), I managed to lose a total of 182lbs (82.5 kg). I can't tell you how many times people reacted negatively when they found out I've been losing at this rate. There is a common misconception that it's unhealthy to be losing more than 5-10lbs a month. Many even believe that 5lbs is more than enough and anything above that is dangerous.

The thing is, it all depends on the individual. Sure, if someone is just 50lbs over their healthy weight, then yeah, 5-10lbs lost per month is a healthy goal. In fact, they'd probably have a hard time losing any faster than that. I, on the other hand, was about 250lbs overweight at start. My body was expending above 4000 calories of energy on a daily basis, simply due to existing. I started out with limiting myself at 2200 calories and soon realized I can handle less. I started dropping the limit by 200 calories on a bimonthly basis and eventually stopped at 1600. This is still my limit today, but thanks to adjusting, I hardly ever go above 1400, due to lack of appetite.

My point is, I was at a 2000 calorie deficit at start, and it's still quite a large deficit these days. This is why I was losing my weight so fast. I'm still getting enough protein to support my muscle mass, so there's no danger of losing muscle and slowing down my metabolism. In fact, based on my calculations, I'm about 15-20lbs ahead of the projections, so I might even have more muscle than I was hoping. I'm also being careful to eat varied food, so all my meta-nutritional needs are being taken care of as well. I'm getting plenty of vitamins and minerals, as well as anything else my body needs, so there is no danger of getting sick either. In fact, I regularly visit my doctor, who sends me on routine tests, which all show a dramatic improvement in overall health.

Now, someone who's only a bit overweight might be expending no more than 2500-3000 calories a day. For someone like that, having a limit of 1600 calories means they will be losing about 10lbs a month, or even less. For them to be able to lose weight as fast as I did, they would either need to dramatically increase their exercise and general activity, or drop their limit further down to well below 1000. This is in no way recommended, because it's very hard to get all the required nutrients at those caloric levels, and you probably wouldn't be getting enough protein either. Sure, you'd lose fast, but it would probably come back to bite you in the ass in some way.

TL;DR: There is no universally healthy speed of weight loss. Heavier people can lose their weight faster than less heavy people, with no health risks. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Weight Loss 101 - Exercise

2012-08-07T09:29:00.000-07:00

As I said previously, exercise alone is rarely enough to lose weight in any realistic time frame. In fact, when you are losing weight properly, via a combination of diet and exercise, exercise will at most account for about 20% of the loss. Is it a waste of time then?

Heck no!

Exercise is good for you. If you have weight issues, you probably have blood pressure issues, or you might even be pre-diabetic. Exercise helps with those things. It also feels great, once you make a habit of it. You know that great feeling when you stuff yourself with something delicious? Exercise will give you a similar feeling. You know how fast that feeling get's replaced with a bad feeling after you stuff yourself with food? Well, that doesn't happen with exercise.

But it isn't simple.

It definitely isn't. If you're starting in a weight range close to my own, you should start picking routines very carefully. Your joints are in a huge amount of stress just for walking around and jumping on it to suddenly might cause damage that will hurt you a lot in the long run. There are exercises you can do with little danger of injury, you just have to find them.

If you have access to a swimming pool, there is no better option than that. Any sort of activity in water will minimize risk of injury and swimming will not only provide good cardio, but also work most of your body's muscles. If you're have weight issues, though, you probably also have issues with being seen without a shirt in public. You wont get any judgement from me, because I still have those same issues. This will go away eventually, but for now, unless you have a private pool, you probably wan't an alternative to swimming.

Bicycle is probably the next best thing. It's excellent cardio and, if you have a decent bike, won't be very stressful for your body. It also works your leg and lower abdomen muscles nicely, and you will probably need those once you get to lower weight ranges. A good bike is expensive, though, especially one that can handle a large amount of weight, so you might consider another alternative.

You can't go wrong with walking. A large amount of weight makes even walking an amazing exercise. Just 30 minutes a day works wonders for your stamina and makes you feel better for the rest of the day. Sure, it will be hard at start. You will wheeze and gasp, but you'll get used to it before you know it.

Eventually, once you lose some weight and most of the danger is gone, you can start running without risking injury. If you're regularly walking or hiking already, just try to steadily incorporate short running sessions in your routine. With time, you can add more and more such sessions, make them longer and before you know it, you'll be running during most of your routine.

Now, all of this is cardio. Cardio is great for loosing some extra weight and get you in shape, but there's something else you shouldn't neglect. You need muscle mass. Having more muscles makes you burn more calories by doing absolutely nothing. Weight loss also includes muscle loss, though, and it's really hard to actually gain muscle while losing weight. That doesn't mean you should neglect weight lifting. Lifting will at east slow down and offset some muscle loss, and this will be quite important. If you have a gym, then you're all set and you really don't need me to give you tips. If you don't, then you should think about investing in a set of dumbbells, or a barbell.

In the meantime, there's one body weight exercise which most people can do, and I wholeheartedly recommend - planks.

Planking will work your core muscles. This is a group that's least developed for most people, but extremely important for protecting you from back injuries while doing any sort of stressful activities. The more developed your core muscles are, the less of a chance you'll get an injury from running or some other cardio activity. Start with one of the simpler variations and move on to the harder ones, once you can do the easier ones for a longer amount of time.

TL;DR: Exercise wont get you there on it's own, but it will help you get there faster. It will also make you feel better and be healthier. Walk, Swim, Run, Ride a Bike, all of those are great, but be careful with your joints. Don't forget to work on your muscles to.

Weight Loss 101 - What do I eat then?

2012-08-06T05:32:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday I said everything I could about how carbs making you hungrier and thus fatter, while attempting to keep it simple. Today, Ill say something about what foods are good to eat when trying to lose weight.

First of all, get protein. Protein is what builds your muscle, and you don't want to lose muscle while losing weight. Realistically speaking, you probably will lose some muscle, but getting enough protein should help with it. More importantly, foods rich in protein usually have a healthy amount of something else you should eat.

Fat!

What? Fat? But everyone says fat is bad! Why are you telling me to eat fat? Are you trying to make a fool out of me?

No. First of all, most fats are not bad for you. There are some fats, such as the ones you get in processed oils (vegetable and sunflower oils, some butters, etc.) that are bad and should be avoided. Most fats, however, your organism needs and do almost nothing bad for you.

Now, keep in mind, I'm not saying you should mostly eat fat. I'm saying you shouldn't run away from it. Not because it's healthy, though. There is one, single, most important reason why you shouldn't avoid fat. Fat's keep you full for a long time. They make you want to eat less.

So how to get a proper amount of fat in your system? Simple. Eat meats, eggs, cheeses (fresh is better than processed), fish, nuts, anything of the sort. Your meats should be cooked or pan-fried, but try to use olive oil or something similar, instead of processed vegetable oils. Pig lard (if you live in an area where it's available) is a better alternative for pan-frying than sunflower oil, for instance. All those things will work on reducing your appetite and keep you satisfied.

If you're vegetarian, I'm going to tell you right now, it's going to be harder. It wont be impossible, though. As I said, vegetables and fruits aren't bad. You can still eat eggs and dairy to. Various types of nuts are also great for you. If you're vegan, you're going to have an even harder time, but again, nothing is impossible.

So, TL;DR: Fats are not bad, protein is great. Eat meat, eggs, dairy and nuts mostly. Supplement with fruits and veggies. Avoid grain, starchy foods and bad carbs in general. It will be easier if you do it that way.

Weight Loss 101 - How do I stop eating?

2012-08-05T10:24:00.002-07:00

First of all, there is no way for it to be completely easy at start. For the first few weeks, you will probably have a hard time adjusting, I can assure you of that. There are, however, ways to make it slightly easier at start and much easier in the long run. Basically, it all comes to just one thing:

Carbs are bad!

Well, technically no, they aren't. In fact, carbs, depending on the source, are quite good for you and should be a significant part of your diet. The thing is, the average modern diet contains way more than just a significant amount of carbohydrates.

Now, let's get one thing straight. If you eat 500 calories bellow your required amount every day, you will lose about the same amount of weight regardless of where those calories are coming from. It doesn't matter if it's all from carbohydrates, all from fat, all from protein, or a mix of the three, you WILL lose weight.

However, carbohydrates have an added effect on you. They make you crave more. You crave more carbs, or more anything for that matter. Why that is has something to do with insulin in your body and the way the body responds to insulin fluctuations that happen after eating food rich in carbohydrates.

Not all carbs are the same, though. While all cause extra cravings, some do so more than others. By far the worst are carbs from sweets, soda, white bread, pasta, etc. Carbs that come from whole-grain products are slightly better, but still should be avoided for the most part. Fruit and vegetables, in that order, are the best source of carbs.

What's important, though, is that carbs make you hungrier. Carbs increase your appetite and make you eat more. If you reduce the carbs, you'll partially replace them with protein and fat sources, but overall, over time, you will more than likely consume less calories. Once that starts, you can eliminate even more carbs from your diet, and push it all even further.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you should stop eating carbohydrates all-together. I'm not even saying that the old "50-60% of your calories should come from carbs" is completely wrong. What I'm saying is, a lot of us, especially those with excess weight, are probably getting close to 80-90% of their calories from carbs. That is why we got fat.

One thing is for sure. A 2000 calorie diet that is 40% carbohydrates, 30% fat, 30 % protein is much easier to maintain than a diet that is 60% carbohydrates, 20% fat, 20% protein. At the moment of writing this, I'm at 258 lbs (117kg). My diet is limited to 1600 calories, and it's about an equal mixture of carbs/fats/protein. Even though 1600 is my limit, on most days, I don't get past 1400 calories, simply because I'm not hungry enough. This is the power of reducing carbs.

TL;DR: Eating less carbohydrates, especially bread, potatoes, sugars and pasta, will reduce your food cravings and cause you to eat less overall.

Weight Loss 101 - All You need is exercise... NOT!

2012-08-05T05:30:00.003-07:00

I'm sorry I had to go Borat with that title, but I really need to emphasize this. It is not true that you can eat whatever you want as long as you exercise. It simply is not true. Why? Here's why:

A nice McDonalds meal can easily pass 1000 calories, especially for those who already have weight/food issues. You know how long you need to run to burn 1000 calories?

3 hours!

Yes, you're reading it correctly. It takes 3 hours of jogging for someone weighing 200lbs to burn off one McDonalds meal. People with weight issues easily ingest 4000 calories a day, if not more. Let's assume they're gaining weight at just the rate of 200 calories a day. If they continue eating as they are, they would need to run for about 1.5 hours every day in order to lose weight at the rate of 1lbs a week or 4 lbs (2kg) a month. Sure, it's possible. I would never claim there isn't someone out there who can do it and even does it. However, you could run 1.5 hours every day and keep eating as badly as you are, or you could remove just one cheeseburger and a medium soda from your daily food amount and get the exact same effect on weight loss.

It's simple, really...

No reasonable amount of exercise can make up for a bad diet.

Don't get me wrong. Exercise is good for you. It's great, in fact. However, for most people, 80% of their weight loss will and should come from changes in diet. Join us next time to learn how those changes can be made easy.

Weight Loss 101

2012-08-05T02:12:00.001-07:00

So, as expected, I promised to reactivate the blog and then I did nothing for two days. Let me try to rectify that.

So, as I said, over the last 10 months, I've managed to lose 180 lbs or 80 kg. I'm talking round numbers here, so no need to correct me, please. How did I do that, you wonder?

Well, first of all, if you haven't started at 440lbs (200kg) or higher, like me, you can't do that. There is no way you can lose 18 lbs per month on average if you have just 40 lbs to much. It simply will not happen. Why? Due to one simple thing.

Weight loss depends no net calories lost and almost nothing else, for the most part.

Now, I'll try to explain this, but I have to warn you, this will all be overly simplified. In reality, it does not work exactly that way, but it's good enough of an explanation that works for the majority of people. You see, calories are an energy measurement. You constantly spend calories to do almost anything, including just spending the day in bed. Of course, harder activities expend more calories, but all in all, you're constantly spending them on something.You get them from food, sodas, anything you ingest, basically.

The only, and I really mean only way to lose weight is to spend more calories than the amount you ingest. Your body fat is basically a reserve supply of fuel which your body uses to get more calories, if you haven't ingested them enough.

Now, I'll say it again: There is absolutely no other way to lose weight other than spending more calories than you ingested. This is the basis of weight loss. Now, I'm sure there will be people saying: "but there are exceptions, not everyone is the same". All I can say to that is one thing: if it looks like you're eating to much but still losing weight, than you either aren't eating as much as you think, or you're spending more than you think. The same goes for gaining weight. From now on, I'll call the net loss of calories "caloric deficit", because that's what it is.

So, how much of a deficit do you need to lose weight? Well, the more you get, the more you lose. A good rule of thumb is that you need a deficit of about 3500 to lose a lbs of fat. Your mileage my vary, of course, but generally, if you eat 500 calories less than you spend daily, you will lose about a pound per week. For the metric users, you need around 7800 calories lost in order to lose 1kg.

That sounds like a lot, right? Well, weight loss will not be fast. It can't be to fast either. The thing is, the more you weigh, the more muscle you probably have and the more energy your body spends by doing nothing. Amount of calories spent per day while doing nothing, basically, by staying in bed, is called the basal metabolic rate (BMR). There are various calculators you can find which determine your BMR based on various values such as body fat percentage, height, weight, age, etc. None of them are absolutely exact, but most of them are close enough for you to approach this scientifically. Naturally, the more information the calculator requires, the more accurate it is. Of course, this is just your basal rate. You usually expend more in a day based on your activities.

Most sources simply multiply your BMR by a factor determined by your activity level. They use something called the Harris Benedict Equation to do this.

if you're sedentary, multiply BMR by 1.2
if you're lightly active (light exercise 1-3 days/week), the factor is 1.375
if you're moderately active (moderate exercise 3-5 days/week), the factor is 1.55
if you're very active (hard exercise 6-7 days/week), the factor is 1.725
if you'r extra active (exercising twice a day + physical job), the factor is 1.9

Let's be honest here, though. If you have a weight problem, you're probably sedentary, so just use the factor of 1.2. The worst thing that can happen is that you will lose weight a bit faster than expected.

Anyway, since I started at 440lbs, my BMR back then was over 4000. Right at the start, I started eating 2000 calories at most per day, meaning I had a daily deficit of well over 2000. Naturally, it wasn't hard for me to lose 1kg every 3 to 4 days. Someone who's starting at 220lbs will have to do it much slower, just as I am right now. This is simply the way it is - the closer you are to your goal weight, the slower the process will be.

So, to put it shortly, this is how you lose weight:

Determine your BMR
Eat bellow your BMR multiplied by activity level
Congratulations, you are losing weight

Realignment of a sort

2012-08-02T13:23:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure if I mentioned it anywhere in one of my other blogs, but over the course of the last ten months, I've been working on losing some weight. You see, I had, and still have, quite an excessive amount of it. With some hard work at start, and a whole lot of easy work eventually, I've managed to lose about 180 or so lbs (80 or so kg for us Europeans).

I thought, since I already had this blog, I might as well fill it with some stuff that's been happening to me, thoughts about my progress, anything related, really. Now, it still won't be a weight loss blog, but I never got any ideas what to write about here, so I might focus a bit more on this aspect of my life. I hope you'll enjoy it.