Things to feel good about.

I tried on three old pairs of jeans this past weekend which had been too
small for me for a long time. All of them were too big to wear.

I have since donated all clothes which no longer fit me (all pants size 36
and above, all shirts/jackets XXL) to charity. I hope somebody appreciates
them, all are in good shape.

I had to go buy all new belts this past weekend, none of the others that I
owned fit me any longer. The old ones are now in the charity pile.

I've bought a pair of 32 pants which are now hanging in my closet, waiting
for me. I will wear them soon, possibly before my anniversary in February.

My wife's charity pile is bigger than mine.

Three different people I work with stopped me in the hall today and told me
how good I was looking. A fourth person, my CEO, came to my office and
asked me how I had lost so much weight and then told me he was amazed that I
now looked 10 years younger.

Actually, almost all my oversize clothes have been donated. I still have
two very nice suits, one which fit me at 275, another which fit me at about
240, to give away. (Unlike khaki's and jeans, these things are
expensive...but I don't want them in the house anymore either.)

A third suit, a wonderful dark gray wool pinstripe, which I had not worn in
a very long time (like 18 years ago at my sisters wedding) I wore to a
dinner party last Thursday night. THAT was a great feeling!

My company had a Christmas buffet today. They served pasta salad, potato
salad, chocolate eclairs, cookies, cheesecake, you name it. I ate a slice
of roast beef, two slices of turkey, a slice of cheese, 2 slices of tomato
all over a bed of lettuce and sprouts...and did not feel deprived. That, my
friends, is a first.

My family and I have been invited to go see the Nutcracker Ballet at the Fox
Theater in Atlanta tomorrow. I am looking forward to this immensely. And I
get to wear that suit again.

My youngest daughter can now hug me and put her arms all the way around me.

I'm done with my Christmas shopping.

JJ.

Start quoted text from JJ's post:


Actually, almost all my oversize clothes have been donated. I still
have two very nice suits, one which fit me at 275, another which fit
me at about 240, to give away. (Unlike khaki's and jeans, these
things are expensive...but I don't want them in the house anymore
either.)

I wonder if any clothiers would take them as trade-in on a new smaller
suit? shrug




I'm done with my Christmas shopping.

Oh, shut up... grumble, grumble


JJ.

"JJ" wrote in message news:wFMEb.91188$8y1.294280@attbi_s52...

My youngest daughter can now hug me and put her arms all the way around
me.

I think this is the BEST part. Wonderful going, JJ! How much more do you
have to go to your goal? I know you'll get there.

Linda

Somewhere between 15 to 20 pounds is what I think I still need to lose.
When I first started this my initial goal was to lose 80 pounds. At this
point I've lost 62. I'll adjust up or down as I get closer to the 80 pounds
(which will be 195) as I see how my body looks. I'm getting closer but I'm
not there yet.

I've been carefully counting calories since I started this. At this point I
am eating 2000 calories and about 40g carbs/day, which I do by creating nice
400 calorie meal packets which I eat 3 times a day, then a dinner meal that
is around 800 calories. Depending on my schedule I may supplement with a
low-carb shake...Atkins for instance, at 170 calories. Not too many of
these because they are expensive for what they are, I just keep a couple
handy for when it is this or nothing...or a trip to the vending machine
should I lose control. I'm progressively bumping up carbs at this point,
currently holding the calories.

For veggies I might eat a salad, but I am just as likely to eat greens
(collards, mustard, turnip, kale, spinach) because I like them all. I vary
this with broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage. I'll eat a couple of tomatoes
each week, I'm cautiously adding other fruit, berries mostly. I don't eat
too much red meat, mostly chicken and fish, some cheese. No alcohol,
haven't had a piece of bread or wheat flour in any form since August,
drinking water is not a problem for me because for my entire life that is
pretty much all I have been drinking anyway...except in the coffee form
which I gave up entirely when I started this, now I'm drinking decaf green
tea, mostly because I just want something warm in the morning. I prefer
coffee but do not like decaf coffee so I would rather do without.

There are only a couple of low-carb products that we are using with any
degree of regularity, mostly because I haven't figured out how to make a
suitable substitute myself. These would be low-carb tortilla's and an
occasional low-carb mix for pancakes, and I've taken a liking for the
low-carb milk substitute called carb countdown.

I was using one of the flax seed based breakfast foods (think oatmeal
substitute) until I read the excellent suggestion by Chakolate (thanks
Chakolate!) to make my own by grinding in a coffee mill 1 TBS each flax,
pumpkin and sesame seeds blended with 2-4 TBS water, a bit of something like
Splenda, may a TBS of half/half, cinnamon. I've adjusted this a bit to suit
my tastes but I now make a batch of this in bulk every week and keep it in
the fridge for breakfast. I eat it 2-3 times per week, my wife eats it
every day. It is actually fairly high in calories because of the fat
content so I limit it to about 2 TBS of the meal for a portion but it is
quite good and filling and much less expensive than the packaged stuff.
Call it "Chakolate's Lotsa Fiber"

I walk quite a bit, and take advantage of what I think of as integrated
excercise...park as far away from where I am going as makes sense and walk
there, if I have a choice of sitting or standing I typically will stand
(which annoys people in meetings BTW), take the stairs (run up the stairs.)

Nothing magic, just rigor and attention. And lots of support from my
family, but maybe that is the magic part.

I consider myself fortunate.

JJ.
275/213/195?

"Lady o' the house" wrote in message
...

"JJ" wrote in message news:wFMEb.91188$8y1.294280@attbi_s52...

My youngest daughter can now hug me and put her arms all the way around
me.

I think this is the BEST part. Wonderful going, JJ! How much more do you
have to go to your goal? I know you'll get there.

Linda

Why don't you try selling them on ebay? Their charge is very low and it
would be worth trying. I buy lots of clothes from ebay (too many!) and have
sold some things there myself. You don't make a fortune by doing this but
at least it gives you a little money and gets the clothes out of the house.

Julia
250/175/150
Atkins July 2001

"JJ" wrote in message news:wFMEb.91188$8y1.294280@attbi_s52...
I tried on three old pairs of jeans this past weekend which had been too
small for me for a long time. All of them were too big to wear.

I have since donated all clothes which no longer fit me (all pants size 36
and above, all shirts/jackets XXL) to charity. I hope somebody
appreciates
them, all are in good shape.

I had to go buy all new belts this past weekend, none of the others that I
owned fit me any longer. The old ones are now in the charity pile.

I've bought a pair of 32 pants which are now hanging in my closet, waiting
for me. I will wear them soon, possibly before my anniversary in
February.

My wife's charity pile is bigger than mine.

Three different people I work with stopped me in the hall today and told
me
how good I was looking. A fourth person, my CEO, came to my office and
asked me how I had lost so much weight and then told me he was amazed that
I
now looked 10 years younger.

Actually, almost all my oversize clothes have been donated. I still have
two very nice suits, one which fit me at 275, another which fit me at
about
240, to give away. (Unlike khaki's and jeans, these things are
expensive...but I don't want them in the house anymore either.)

A third suit, a wonderful dark gray wool pinstripe, which I had not worn
in
a very long time (like 18 years ago at my sisters wedding) I wore to a
dinner party last Thursday night. THAT was a great feeling!

My company had a Christmas buffet today. They served pasta salad, potato
salad, chocolate eclairs, cookies, cheesecake, you name it. I ate a slice
of roast beef, two slices of turkey, a slice of cheese, 2 slices of tomato
all over a bed of lettuce and sprouts...and did not feel deprived. That,
my
friends, is a first.

My family and I have been invited to go see the Nutcracker Ballet at the
Fox
Theater in Atlanta tomorrow. I am looking forward to this immensely. And
I
get to wear that suit again.

My youngest daughter can now hug me and put her arms all the way around
me.

I'm done with my Christmas shopping.

JJ.