Sunday, August 09, 2009

Mark: 17 weeks on the Lifestyle Modification Plan

Me before The Diet - One of my typical afternoon snacks!

It marks 17 weeks today I've been on my Lifestyle Modification Plan! Mentally I am fixated on food, though physically most times it's really not too bad. There are moments though, like last Tuesday which was my night to have the kids for dinner since it was their Mom's week. Danielle asked if she could bring her friend over with her, and I ordered Italian Food from Vitale's of Ada, our favorite place for Italian Food Delivery. The smell of assorted pasta dinners and garlic bread sticks with butter made my usually tasty spicy pepper omelet taste like ashes in my mouth.....but...mostly I can deal with it.

My kids have been pretty good about it. Maybe not asking how I am doing, but at least not complaining that I won't take them anywhere for a nice sit down dinner. I do take them out for fast food which can also be rough, surrounded by people eating Burger King may not sound all that delicious to you....but trust me.....you really know what Pavlov's dog must have been going through whenever he heard that danged bell......

So for 121 days (I started riding the bike 2 days before the diet) I've exercised every day and stayed within my caloric guidelines. Losing 84 pounds in 17 weeks is not bad at all, that's an average just about 5 pounds a week. It's been ever so much fun, and I'm past the half way point of 70 pounds. I realize though that the road before me is still long and full of challenges. I am truly eager to continue on the path I have set myself upon.

Different things motivate me such as the following. Danielle and I were just looking at a few pictures and I started up a video clip she had taken of the cat a couple of weeks after I started the diet. Because the the cat was running around she panned over to where I am sitting on the recliner, and I was HUGE! We were both somewhat shocked by my appearance! When you see someone every day you get used to their appearance so to us my change is stature is not that dramatic. She said "Oh my gosh you looked like Santa Claus!" I said I looked like I ate Santa! I was, truly, disgusted with myself though after seeing that clip for letting me get to that point. All the more motivation to succeed.

4 comments:

Suresh said...

Chris, you are truly an inspiration.. Congrats on looking your almost old self (at least what I remember). The funny thing is we all get used the way we are, they way we eat, but it doesn't change the fact that it's not particularly healthy for us. I'm still on my journey downward but not at your pace. Keep it up!

Blandishment Blog said...

PhotoGeek, thanks! Though I would be sorely tempted if you showed up with some of your mom's Indian food like you used to those weekends at work, to eat it!

Refusing a bag or two of Chakoli would be even harder! It has been years since I have had that!

I will continue, thanks to what happened to me 17 weeks ago, I know what will happen if I do not!

Bev from PA said...

Oh my gosh same thing happened to me. We went to a wedding of Dave's co-worker. Video recording was DVD'd and copies loaned. I watched remembering wonderful day until - There was me waddling back from getting a cup cake! I won't include the explatives but there were many and with each my heart sank. It's shocking and I've been watching eating since.

Question. Do you keep record of calories, too?

Blandishment Blog said...

Bev - I track calories consumed and calories burned via exercise daily.