Meals - Days 34-36

I am gladly still losing weight, having lost just over 10kg in the first month i'd like to share a few best bets with you, i understand the initial week one weight loss of around 4kg was due to mostly losing water weight but the other 6kg is a different matter, i didn't lose the 6kg by eating a pack of salty bacon every morning, handfuls of macadamia nuts throughout the day, boiled eggs for lunch and a tuna, spring onion, mayo mixture at night nor did i lose the weight drinking specialised milk shakes or eating only cabbage soup, kale or porridge, i have taken no supplements or new age fat burners, CLA tablets or appetite suppressants and my stomach is still in one piece and has not been surgically altered to be the size of a banana.  And i tell you this that i have tried all of the above at some point in my life and i sit here today blogging about my journey to go from 167kg to 85kg, which in my mind is proof to me at least that the weight loss concepts above are only short term solutions.  And interestingly enough i am finding that i am shedding weight at the same rate as i did previously following the fad diets with similar amount of personal effort the only difference being my meals are more diverse, i am feeling a lot healthier and i am more positive about future goal weight maintenance.

I did in December last year decide that surgery specifically bariatric was my only hope and i had convinced myself and the doctor that 'i've tried everything doctor, and gave it my all but i cannot seem to shed the weight, once i even went to the gym for 56 days in a row sometimes twice a day, i've lost 30kg only to put 40kg back on, it is as if i am allergic to carbs and fats and it goes straight to my backside, stomach and thighs, being fat is ruining my life and i am suffering mentally from it all.'

After extensive research of the surgery i decided for many reasons the cons outweighed the pros and had a word with myself, faced some home truths and eventually accepted the fact that i am a food addict and just like any other addicts i would have to face reality, make serious lifestyle changes and stop blaming everyone or everything else but me for my current condition.

So here are some best bets i have realised since i started this weight loss lifestyle, i understand that some maybe just me specific but i also understand and maintain that honestly and trust me if i can do it anyone can, i am very serious about this, i class myself as the bench mark obese guy and out there are many like me, there has to be, my situation cannot be unique.  My best bets are for us, the morbidly obese they may not be of interest to anyone of a smaller size, they may not work but i am convinced the following is working for me and can work for anyone who is huge in size.

Best bets:

1. Portion control, reduce your portions to 25% of the original size you are used to eating, none of this size of a deck of playing cards, dice dimensions or a plate with guides on, just simply follow my golden rule that you can within reason eat whatever you like as long as visually you can estimate the size of the portion is smaller than what your pre-lifestyle change food addict would eat.

2.  Stay away from anything which you know to be obviously unhealthy, it is not rocket science to determine that a pie is full of bad fats or a fizzy drink has too much sugar, anyone who is 167kg has to have a fair idea of the foods we ate and the amount we of those foods we ate contributed to our current size and simply cut them out and replace with healthier options.

3.  Eat slowly, don't wolf food down without chewing it properly, enjoy every mouth full, satisfy your food addiction by savoring every 'hit' each morsel gives you.

4.  Eat breakfast, if you can mix it up, try smoothies, granola with yogurt, all brans or bran flakes with semi skimmed milk, a piece of fruit, every fat person can surely relate to the issue of missed breakfast then by 10-11am meals that should be classed as lunch are consumed followed by a normal lunch at 1 o'clock?

5.  Eat at 2/3 hour intervals, keep your metabolism interested, have breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack and dinner even add an evening snack if you feel you have too.

6.  Do not starve yourself, why would anyone do this especially a food addict, if you are hungry and it is at least 1 hour since you last ate and you are at least 3 weeks into your new regime, eat, no matter what time of the day, yes it is advised to lose weight avoid eating after 8pm but if your hungry and it is affecting your mental state therefore becoming detrimental to your overall weight loss regime have a snack, if you are lying in bed trying to get to sleep but hurting over mental hunger get something into your stomach, just make sure a late night snack is not stupid, half a cup of bran flakes with a splash of milk, an apple or a handful of unsalted nuts/raisins eaten individually does the job just fine, a chocolate bar, toast or chocolate biscuits does not.

7.  Drink water, plenty of it, use it for hydration, cleansing and also filling your stomach between meals, i have 2 x 1 litre bottles i fill every night with tap water and put in the refrigerator for the following day, it takes me 60 seconds to prepare, 1 minute of filling water bottles is not much to sacrifice for a day of positive weight loss, even if you are in the anti tap water camp you can buy water and if like me buying water every day is a hassle, expensive and puts you into contact with purveyors of unhealthy food  you can now buy reusable water bottles which have carbon filters built into them and they are not expensive and in some the filter is good for over 300 refills, if you have a water dispenser in the fridge, fill it and use it, when you are wandering around the kitchen opening and closing cupboards looking for a food fix have a glass of water, 3 mouth fulls of water from a 3rd off a glass does wonders for your appetite as well as all sorts of advantages for your skin, internal organs and weight loss.

8.  Do not miss out, if you are invited to a party, eat, don't sit watching others at the buffet table while you sit punishing yourself mentally, it will make you sad and again this situation you find yourself in if not dealt with correctly could affect your over all weight loss, if there is a buffet set yourself a limit of the amount of items you can allow yourself to eat, when setting that limit always imagine what your unhealthy obese self would have demolished and eat at least 25% less, i went into this in more detail in a previous blog i limit myself to 3 items off the buffet, it helps.  If your out and about and everyone you are with fancies some fast food join them, visualise what you used to eat, for me it would be a xlarge burger meal with a shake and an extra side, reduce this to a small burger, small fries, small water or at a push a small shake, for me eating a 32cm pizza in one go takes no effort at all, if the family wants pizza sure no worries but now i eat 1/4 instead of the whole thing.  Meeting the in laws for a breakfast again no problem, instead of the hungryman breakfast where everything is doubled up served with chips have the early bird breakfast of 1 sausage, 1 bacon, 1 egg, a couple of mushrooms and a piece of toast, i've taken to having oatmeal porridge or fruit with yogurt and granola because sometimes it tastes better than a greasy fry up but i have to my recollection had one early bird type fried breakfast in the past month ( i used to have 1 a week, now 1 a month, 25% less.)

9.  Keep healthy snacks in the house, i buy large 1kg bags of fruit, nut and seed mix from a factory shop i dispense them into a small dish that holds about 30g when i want a snack, have fruit available cold apples out of the fridge are great so are hard pears, bran flakes, simple biscuits like rich teas (marie biscuits) and only have 2 occasionally instead of half a packet a night, popcorn is a great low calorie snack, pop it yourself  or even buy the microwave ones, i do, calorie wise they are not so bad but there is maybe an argument that chemically they are not good for you and i only eat popcorn 2 or 3 times a month, but we are 167kg a lot of damage has already been done, concentrate on that when we are 100kg, instead of eating the whole bag share half with someone else or put half in a zip lock bag/tupperware for a later date.  If all you have in the house is junk then all you will go to when you are feeling down and hungry is junk, there is a fair amount of junk available in my house because i have small children and a partner who is of a healthy weight, by junk i mean my version of household junk such as white bread, chocolate biscuits, crisps, mini chedders, ice cream, sweeties that kind of thing which is no crime but to have an alternative available to me does really help.

10.  Stay away from diet sodas, from what i have read and i may go into more detail about his in the future, diet fizzy drinks do more harm than good, they can effect you mentally due to the fake sugar tricking your brain into thinking it is getting sugar only for it to find out you pulled a fast one on it ending up with your brain looking for revenge by increasing your sugar cravings and laughing like a bond villain as you freak out and drink more and more diet soda, it is not refreshing and does little to quench a thirst and some studies are coming out that show it actually adds weight especially mass to stomach and waist areas.  If you are to have a diet soda and i have in the past month, 1 can, do just that drink it in total moderation if you have to but make sure that it is 1% of the liquid you are consuming, have a can a month on a hot day for a change up in texture and flavour, to be honest i don't miss it but i am no saint i used to drink a litre a day, but a can every now and then is enjoyable.

I hope this helps, it has helped me to blog about it, get it down in writing so i can read it back and see how far i have come, just to reiterate i am reaching out to the obese here, the guys and gals like me, with 50%+ body fat, i understand that my best bets do not appeal to everyone and also some may disagree with them which is fine, but us obese food addicts need to start somewhere, all i can say is from my experience the above points are helping me, i have a history of failed diets following others advice, not every diet out there can be followed by a food addict without any mental strain, we are only losing weight after all there is no point making ourselves miserable while we are at it, we are after all miserable enough about the whole obese situation to start with.

In addition to my best bets, please also consider reading my previous blogs about BMI, BMR, calorie deficits and METs to give yourself even more ammunition for your battle with food addiction.

Good luck and never forget if i can do it anyone can!