Beautiful Life of Zig Zag Zoom

It is no big secret that many Americans are between overweight and obese. It is a scary trend that has caused many to look in the mirror and wonder how they got so fat. That is a good question and one worth looking at.

The first thing to consider is how much exercise and movement are you getting each day. For me, the answer was not much.  I walked a lot at work but not much beyond that. I use to exercise until life got in the way. I even got down in my ideal weight class a few times only to gain again when I slowed down. I made an excuse that I did not have time as I sit on the couch watching hours of television or playing games on the iPad or computer. I deserved my relaxing time right?

The second thing to consider is what you are putting into your body. For me and my wife, it was a lot of processed boxed foods along with many trips to McDonald’s and other eating out places. We had summers off and it was nothing to run to McDonald’s and eat a McDouble and a small fry and a for me a large Sweet Tea at 10:00PM. Just a quick late night snack, no big deal right?

Let’s take a look at that snack. The sandwich carries 390 calories , 19 grams of fat, and even a gram of trans fat. The fries carry 230 calories and  11 grams of fat. The sweet tea, carries 280 calories. I normally drank at least two but did get where I started mixing half and half sweet and unsweet. That one little snack cost me 900 calories and that was on top of the rest of my day. It was cheap, just $3.00 but cost me much more in the health factor.

Before you go jumping on the let’s ban McDonald’s wagon, they did not cause you to be fat. In defense of them, they now clearly mark their nutrition on the package for most stuff and the rest can be found on their website. They just sell the stuff, we buy it and eat it. It is our own fault not theirs. Besides, they are not the only problem when eating out.

Let’s examine TGI Fridays. My favorite thing there was buying the $12.99 meal deal which includes an appetizer, entree, and desert. I always had the pot-stickers for 780 calories and 42 grams of fat. For the entree, I had  Parmesan-Crusted Chicken for 860 calories and 54 grams of fat. For desert (I do love desert), I had Vanilla Bean Cheesecake for 980 calories and 61 grams of fat. The grand total 2620 calories and 157 grams of fat. Holy shit! Excuse my language but those numbers are scary and they did not even include the side dish of tortellini which was not listed on TGI Fridays website so I did not know the nutrition numbers.

Looking at these numbers made me wonder if I could eat out again. The truth, yes I can. The first thing you need to do is visit the website of the place you are going before you go. There will be more in a future post on eating out in fast food places and other eating establishments.

How many of you eat meals like I did? How many times a week do you do it? How much processed foods do you eat? How many sodas do you drink? Add them all up and the numbers will scare you or at least they should.

I was over 50 pounds overweight and looked in the mirror and asked “How did you get so fat?” I have my answer and I am working on correcting it. I could whine and cry and say it is McDonald’s fault. I could say TGI Fridays made me fat, it is their fault. Neither them or anyone else forced the food in my mouth. No one made me stop exercising. I did not get fat because of others, it was all my own doing and it is up to me to fix it.

Are you willing to look in the mirror and ask the same thing? Are you willing to get up and start moving? Are you willing to do what it takes and commit to it? There is no one else to blame, no magic pill, no instant fix, it is all up to and about you. Get up get moving, eat better and get healthy. If you are on the road of recovery, please share your experience and advice in the comment box.

With this post written, it is a cardio day so I am off to do my 90 minutes of cardio. Good luck on the path to good health.

I tried weight loss diets before and lost weight but it all came back. I have decided to really try to change my life style. The beginning of the year, I joined the YMCA and Karen and I have decided to eat at home a majority of the time. Real health comes from long term and not quick fixes.

I have stuck now for a little over a month with going to the gym 5-6 days a week. The YMCA has a mileage system that tracks how many miles you perform. For cardio, it goes by the machine and for weight lighting you get 1.5 miles per hour of strength training. I have been averaging about 25- 30 miles a week for over a month. I feel great and though I am extremely busy, I look forward to going to the gym everyday.

As far as diet, we are just trying to eat 90% healthy and cutting out the fried and overly processed foods. I have upped my protein which includes my fresh eggs every morning for breakfast. We have one anything goes meal a week and otherwise, we try to eat as healthy as possible.

I have lost about 10.5 pounds since January 3rd but I have gained a bit of muscle mass so I rely very little on the scale number. I have about 35 or so pounds to go but if i keep gaining muscles, that number may change.

Anyone else trying to get healthy? What are you doing?

I did my weekly weigh in today and I am down another pound. This is good considering I am still restricted from exercise due to my back injury. The back is getting better and I am hoping to soon be able to return to exercise. Of course, Karen is ready for me to return to my normal chores. She is getting tired of taking care of the chickens.

I am still struggling with getting in my vegetables and fruits each day. Life is so busy that it is hard to fit them in. I am starting to drink the V-8 fruit and vegetable juice to try and help. Most diets say you should not drink most of your calories. However, the juice has to help some for vitamins and such.

I am still waiting to hear from others who are trying to lose weight. Am I the only fat man out there? Leave some comments about your own struggle to lose weight!

New weight 198.5 lbs

Losing weight is one of the hardest things to do. To have a complete weight loss diet, you must combine both proper eating and good exercise. To do both you have to be in proper physical health.

I was super excited to start my weight loss diet and even more excited to share it here on That Blozzz. Well I had to use the motto of this blog because I was dealt a big life slap the last few days. I mentioned last week that I was having back problems. I finally hit the real brick wall and went to the chiropractor Monday. I have a slipped disk in my back. Not only does this mess up my everyday activity, it puts a big dent in my exercise plans.

The doctor says I should be down and out for at least 10 days but I am hoping it will get better faster. I have been doing OK with eating but that by itself does not get the job done.  I really need to exercise but since I can’t I have to be extra careful with my eating.

The good news is, even without exercise, I did lose one more pound and my new weight is 199.5 lbs. I am not losing at the rate I prefer to but I guess any loss is better than no loss or a gain.

The one pound loss does mean even if you are injured or down and out, you can still adjust your diet to be able to lose weight. Though it is slower, it is still possible.

If you are on a weight loss plan, please share your experience here by leaving a comment.  If you have any advice you would like to share or want to be part of my weight loss diet reporting, feel free to jump in and be part of the That Blozzz community.

Well I just did my week two weigh in and it was OK but not great. I am down 1.5 pounds. I had a good eating week but a bad exercise week. I was very active this week but I did not do any organized exercise. The middle of week two I threw my back out and that stopped me from doing much.

The back is still hurting which is one of the reason I wanted to lose weight. I hurt my back about 13 years ago and when I gain weight, I have more problems with it.

I have been very good with eating and avoiding all deep fried foods and high sugar snacks. Thursday will be my first cheat day because it is my mother’s 80th birthday party and I plan to have a little cake and ice cream.

I am hoping my back gets better in a couple of days so I can get back on track with my exercise. I guess as long as the weight is decreasing I should be happy. However, next week, I am looking for a better number.

Old weight 202 lbs new weight 200.5 lbs.

Yesterday was the last day of week one and today was my official weigh-in day. I found out why I did not have enough energy. As I thought I was eating plenty of calories, I went on a online calorie calculator and found out most days I was in the 1200 calorie range. This is way to low for any man and it should be at least 1800-2000 and days I exercise, it should be even more.

I knew this and I should have done a better job of making sure I eat enough. This is one of the biggest downfalls when starting a diet. People try to cut but but end up cutting too much and they end up not losing weight or losing too much lean mass.

The key to success is to lose at a rate that keeps you healthy and does not lose your lean body mass. The most common recommendation is to lose at a rate of 1.5 to 2 pounds a week. I think a little more is OK but too much and you fail to burn mostly fat.

I have loss weight in the past but I have gained it back so this time I am hoping for the long term weight loss.

With that said, I lost 2 pounds the first week. I was hoping for a little more but this is a respectable number and I can live with it knowing I need to adjust to do better.

I met my goal for exercise. I did three days of cardio and two days of weight training.

I also met my goal for fiber and protein but failed a bit on the veggies and fruit intake. I still need to try to up those some. I also failed to eat enough which I will work on in the coming week.

From this point on, I will start just updating my weight loss diet diary once a week on my weigh in day which is Wednesday. As I discover something new I will add it to my weight loss category.

As always please add any comments that can help me or others who are trying to lose weight.

NEW WEIGHT: 202 LBS

Today I had no energy. I am not sure what is happening but I seem to have loss all my energy. I did do my workout but otherwise I did almost nothing. I am going to have to try and figure out what I am doing wrong unless it is just the winter blues.

Food Ate:

One egg

1/2 grapefruit

4 prunes

Thomas Light multi-grain English muffin

4oz of Venison steak

Green Salad mix with added carrots

Fit Smart Fiber 35 Strawberry Shake with skim milk

1 tbs of fat-free ranch dressing

Two slices of New York Style Pizza

One Snickers Marathon Nutrition Bar

Exercise:

30 minutes of weight training with dumbbells ( that is what the weights are called not talking about my wife)

Still trying to get all those veggies and fruit.

Today was another busy day and I took a day off exercise. We went to visit some family and that took a good part of the day. Karen and I ended up at the Chinese buffet which is one of our weak points. For the first time, we made the smart choices.

I increased my veggies today, of course most of it was in one meal. I have been feeling the effect of higher fiber. It caused a bit of bloating and gas but that will pass when I get use to eating better.

Karen did comment today that when you eat healthier, your taste buds improve and food starts having more flavor. I guess all the fried foods plug up your taste buds.

Food ate:

A bowl of Live Active Berry Cereal with fat free milk

Chicken and Broccoli  (mostly broccoli)

Peel and eat shrimp

A bowl of mixed fruit

Wholegrain high fiber English muffin with all natural peanut butter

Two cups of skim milk

One juice and sparkling water blend

Tomorrow’s goal:

Eat six small meals

More water intake

30 minutes of light weight training

Please share any tips you have on what I am or I am not doing right.

Today I had a busy day. However, I stayed on track. It is getting easier to eat healthier and I am already starting to feel the effect of healthier eating. I have decided to set  my cardiovascular exercises for three times a week and my strength exercises two days a week. One of the problems I had in the past was to go full force day one and then I wear myself out.  This time I plan to take more baby steps in the hope that the weight loss will be long term.

Food Ate:

A bowl of Live Active Berry Cereal with fat free milk

One Banana

Fit Smart Fiber 35 Strawberry Shake with skim milk

Two servings of whole wheat spaghetti with extra lean burger and Ragu organic sauce (two different meals)

One serving of Brussels sprouts (Frozen fresh out of my own garden)
Exercise:

31 minutes on the elliptical  machine

I am still working on increasing my veggies which seems to be the hardest thing for me to do. Karen has been off for a week so we have not been on the best schedule. I am hoping it gets better when we start a regular schedule again.

Today, I took a day off from exercise because I was a bit sore from yesterday’s weight workout. I did not get to spread out my meals as well as I would have liked because I slept in a bit this morning.

Food Ate:

A bowl of Live Active Berry Cereal with fat free milk

One Banana

One slice of NY Style pizza

Half of an antipasto salad.

A few nuts

One small sirloin steak

Mashed potatoes

A serving of pinto beans

A serving of corn

One Snickers Marathon Nutrition Bar

I still am working on improving my veggie and fruit intake.

I have noticed that  the number on the scale is going down but you will have to wait till the end of week one to see the loss. I also had my wife take pictures today for the future before and after pictures that I will post here.

Anyone else trying to lose weight out there? If so, do you have any tips for me? If so please leave a comment.