I gave up alcohol for Lent this year. I've done my 40 days (by not indulging on Sundays as most protestants do), so I'm drinking a bit tonight. Easter might set me back a bit this week, but hopefully the camping trip I'm taking for spring break will give me enough exercise to make up for it.
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This was me, may 2009 (with Smokin Gator)

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this is me, april 2011

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HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS REALLY IMPRESSIVE. Congrats on the progress
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I wouldn't have recognized you, Ferdinand. Wow! Congrats on all your dedication and work!:-)
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Nice job Ferdie! :-)
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Did some more walking/running today. Ankle's still holding up well. I think the weight loss I've done before this has helped tremendously. Was able to run more this time than the two previous sessions. Still can't string more than a half mile at a time, but I'm happy with the progress so far.

Had to go buy some new clothes a couple weeks ago. My old clothes were really baggy. So much so tightening the belt would cinch up so much of the waistband, it was a bit uncomfortable. Plus just looked funny. I'm also no longer having to shop in the fat mans section. :-)
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Basic training graduation
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240lbs
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after my last deployment. about 185lbs
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Getting back down to 165-170 is probably the hardest thing I've had to do. getting up to 240 was no problem at all. Lots of beer drinking and midnight food runs. working my butt off(literally) to get back to where i was.
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Going up is easy!:-) Hard coming back down, but it's always worth it, right?
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I'll have to weigh in a day early this week b/c I'm not taking my scale on my camping trip with me. No gain so far, but tomorrow will tell.
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I was 212 this morning. Still can't crack the 10 barrier. It'll come, I'm just impatient. :-)
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That's my problem as well, Scott. I'm impatient.:-)
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209 this morning. :-)
That was a real nice barrier to break. It'll be near impossible to hold it for a few days, but it'll ultimately stick. I have to eat lots of carbs today, so we'll see what happens. Noodles or rice for dinner and some kind of cereal for lunch, I suppose.
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Congrats Scott. That's gotta be a great feeling.

I did a weigh in a few days ago and was at 245. Let's see if I can keep that up. I am staying under 250 throughout the day though and it's still slowly coming off. Today I'll get in a good walk to burn some calories. Did 3.8mi in just under 56min on Sunday. I was boggie-ing.
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Well done, Bob!!! :-)

It's nice to see a nice pattern taking hold, right? That way you know you're on to something that's going to be permanent. Especially if the "pattern" or new way you do stuff isn't real hard to do, or maintain.
I've watched, and when guys say "I'm going to change everything I do to make this weight come off", ya just know it's going to be too hard to maintain. It's easier to just change a couple little things at a time so they can be incorporated into our lives without a bunch of drama. That way they're likely to become habit.
They say it takes 30 days to develop a new habit. Do you think that seems about right, with the way you're making changes?
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Yea, seems every week the pattern shifts downward by a pound or two. It's amazing to see how much you can fluctuate in any given day.

You're correct that it's easiest to change just a couple of things than trying to go whole hog. I had started about two years ago with just changing my diet, removing processed foods, adding more veggies/fruits, organic naturally raised proteins. With just that change I lost ~30lbs in two years. Over the last few months I added in walking along with cutting back on the carbs. That's allowed me to take off the next ~25lbs. So I would say you're right about the 30 days to develop a habit. I'm pissed at myself if I skip a walk (which I've rarely done).

I wanted to ask about hydration. What percentage do you shoot for? I'm assuming you're using one of the scales that measures your hydration level. Mine says I'm at 48%, where the manual said 55-60% is optimal. I know taking off more weight will increase the percentage, but until then how can I increase it? I"m already drinking 8-12 glasses a day. I don't think I can do much more though, i'd be p*ssing all the time.
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Bob, I don't use any scales or aids or any of that. My wife has been into aerobics, running, lifting, all that stuff for years. She works out every day and runs every day when the weather is decent. She can deliver real simple answers to any of my questions.
Lots of the things I do make her cringe. :-)
I have a very rare neuromuscular disorder that I'm treating for, so I take lots of meds. My body dictates what I can and can't do on a momentary basis. Right now, one of my meds is a diuretic, but it doesn't act as a diuretic because my muscles are sucking it all up. I've always gone to the bathroom a ridiculous amount of times every day, so that doesn't bother me anyways.
Right now I'm also on a very low potassium, high carb diet. I subsist on noodles, rice, and water, basically. Meat has a lot of potassium, and in the last year I've developed a natural aversion to it because if I eat a steak it causes me incredible pain.
Weird, right?
The easy answer is I eat weird stuff regularly (in small portions, cause usually I don't like it) and I drink constantly. I'm never without a drink by my side. Sometimes I drink grape Aquafina, lots of times I just drink filtered water.

That said, I listen to my body. If I'm thirsty, I drink. I trust what it's telling me a lot more than what a book says, but that's cause I'm so screwed up. I absolutely have to get lots of water and carbs, and I cannot fast or I get the same results as the steak I mentioned.
I suppose I have an unfair advantage with my health and all, but all the changes I've made, I made slowly.

The best I could suggest is maybe try drinking more water in the early evening (after work)? That way it won't be such an issue. I am slap full of water all the time, so much so that I slosh. It isn't an issue because I'm home all the time, but I can see where it'd drive a guy nuts.
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Awesome to see all the discussion in here.:-)

Bob, I don't know anything about hydration other than I try to get 6-8 glasses of water a day.:-)
Scott, I agree 110% that habits are formed slowly (30 days sounds about right).

Weigh-in is tomorrow for me and it looks like I'll be up a couple of pounds from last week. I've maintained 242 for two weeks.
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:-)
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Andy,one thing I noticed from this thread is that alcohol is a major diet enemy. I'm super-blessed, because I don't drink. I don't have that evening/weekend fun monkey on my back, ya know?
My sweet baby has been really watching her calories (not that she doesn't always) because she wants to lose a few pounds, I'm guessing. I don't think she needs to, she looks amazing, but she's gonna do what she's gonna do, ya know. :-)
Anyways, she likes her wine in the evening/before bed, and she likes to get tuned up a bit at family day on Sundays. She has very much slowed down how much she drinks, and I haven't seen Bailey's in her coffee for a long, long time.
I wasn't making that point AT you, I'm just talking to you. Sorry, I should have said that, I'm making you out to be a drunk, lol. :-)
Anyways, you'd mentioned a number of times in the past how bad the alcohol can sabotage a diet, and I just wanted to throw that recent personal experience out there to add some empirical evidence to your alcohol mentionings before I forgot about it. :-)
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Hey just started doing some workign out, and I am trying to eat better..not really a diet. But I do need to lose weight. I am doing the insanity workout, I really need someone to keep me accountable. Hopefully I can keep this up. I am 205 (5'8") with cholestoral around 300...my bp is great. Doc says the cholestoral is from being overweight.
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