DAY 365 | BEFORE & AFTER PHOTOS

Today is December 24th, 2015.  It was a mere 365 days ago, December 24, 2014 that a snap decision was made by me during a routine annual checkup with my doctor that it was time for a change in my lifestyle. Only two days after that decision was made shortly before lunch on December 24, 2014, I got the idea of launching a blog to document my progress. Over the course of the year, people have been incredulous: "You started a diet on Christmas Eve?"  My answer, was always the same.  I am Jewish, it was a Wednesday.  On that specific Wednesday, I 'discovered' that I weighed 309 lbs.  I was not just heavy.  I was not just overweight.  I was not just obese.  No, not me, I had the whole package...I was morbidly obese! (Morbidly obese is the technical word for very fat and very unfit.) I could not climb three flights of stairs without getting winded. (Before this year ended, I successfully ascended nearly 5000 feet to the summit of Half Dome in Yosemite Park.) One year ago I 'enjoyed' doing nothing far more than I enjoyed doing 'anything.' I certainly did not enjoy seeing my reflection in the mirror.  And I was not too fond of a camera lens either.  My clothes shopping for pants, jeans, sleepwear and underwear were relegated to an online experience only. Any shirt, sweater, jacket I purchased needed to be XXL - and even that was no guarantee that it would fit.  There was however, always a guarantee that I would not (as I could not) look good wearing anything.  It is very difficult to 'hide' 309 lbs. Actually, I guess I was lucky. During the course of the year, people found it hard to believe that my weight had been 309 lbs when I started.  Yes, God blessed me.  People always commented that I carried my weight well - sure, it apparently appeared to folks that I was only 290 lbs!

My very first blog post on December 26, 2014 was titled:
Before/(no after) Pictures 

Since those initial photos were taken and posted one year ago, I made a point to save the size 50" waist 'stretch expandable' cargo shorts that I wore that day and my XXL golden yellow t-shirt. I also saved my 50" waist black belt that I had owned for more than 10 years.

May I now present to you some BEFORE and AFTER pictures.  As I originally warned last year, these photos are not for the squeamish as they include 'topless' shots! Although, I have traditionally weighed myself on Saturday morning, I did jump on the scale yesterday prior to these new photos being snapped.  The imaginary needle on my digital scale pointed to 211 lbs. That would mean that the difference in weight between the man in these photographs is 98 lbs.

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I admit it... I really like this photo of myself

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Who says that I am not a sentimental guy?  Today is Thursday December 24th, 2015.  It is the first anniversary of that fateful yearly checkup with my doctor.  And do you know what I am doing today?  I have a doctors appointment at 10:00AM - for my annual checkup!  See you tomorrow...

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Your Food Diary For:

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
steel cut oatmeal - steel cut oat meal, 1 cup	600	108	10	20	0	4
	600	108	10	20	0	4
L U N C H
Salmon Filet 7oz, 1 filet	340	0	20	37	318	0
Red Quinoa Salad, 10 ounce	429	52	22	9	751	10
Alfredo Fettuccini, 1.25 cup prepared	388	56	2	10	913	3
	1,157	108	44	56	1,981	13
D I N N E R
Libby's - Sweet Corn, 1.75 cup	210	32	5	7	700	25
WHOLE FOODS. 8497 - CHERRY VANILLA GRANOLA, 93.5 g (3/4 cup)	408	68	12	9	102	26
WHOLE FOODS - NATURAL WASABI GREEN PEAS, 3/5 cup (30 grams)	216	34	5	7	432	4
	834	134	23	23	1,234	54
S N A C K S
WHOLE FOODS 7700 - ORGANIC DATE PIECES w/OAT FLOWER, 96.0 g (2 TBSP)	288	72	0	2	24	53
	288	72	0	2	24	53
Totals	2,879	421	76	101	3,239	123
Your Daily Goal	3,736	467	124	187	2,300	140
Remaining	857	45	47	85	-939	16
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 1,806 extra calories from exercise today

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
STAR TRAC ELLIPTICAL	62	1,372
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	434
Daily Total / Goal	63 / 30	1,806 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	736 / 210	10,697 / 4,130

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I had planned on taking a day off from exercise after my marathon 31 mile walking expeditions on Tuesday.  When the day was over, I was having difficult standing... I am pretty sure that I was having difficulty walking too. But something happened while I slept. My body repaired itself and I felt absolultely great in the morning. Recently, I had been using my elliptical machine for 92 minutes workouts at a 'resistance' level of only '10'.  Yesterday I ratcheted down the time to 62 minutes and I ratcheted up the 'resistance' to '20.' It is interesting that the calories burned with a workout that was a full 33% shorter, resulted in a calorie burn that was only 11% less productive. 

RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE. 
In fact, RESISTANCE IS FRUITFUL!

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total calories consumed 2879 calories

total calories burned (62 minutes elliptical) 1372 calories

total net calories 1507 calories

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fitbit day 112

20005 steps
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While at the mall yesterday, I was experimenting with a new look for myself... A new hat may be in my future... but none was purchased yesterday.

Among the things that I am also not in the market for is a long camel color winter coat... I prefer to wear layers to keep warm... Nevertheless, just for the heck of it, I tried on this size MEDIUM long coat while my daughter was shopping at Forever 21.  Forever 21 is not a shop that I can ever remember shopping at... My wife says that their men's department is a somewhat new addition...

...and finally... I had some fun at the Apple Store setting four of their iPhone 6S display models to the Marc Jacobs Weight Loss Journal... A completely pointless endeavor... but something about it amused me.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

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• All the way back on December 26, 2014 this blog was born. On that day I posted 'BEFORE' pictures... Obviously 'AFTER' pictures were a bit premature at that time since on December 26, I was into my new lifestyle for a grand total of 48 hours. The original 'BEFORE' photos attempted to show myself to the world in all my glorious fatness. I took front shots, side shots and I even included 'topless' photos. It took a bit of nerve to do that at a weight of 309 lbs. The anniversary date of my lifestyle change is now just three days away...  I was thinking that when a new movie is due for release, there are usually coming attractions available prior to the release date. That is the model that I am using today. I am going to advance preview two sets of photos. The first photo was an absolutely goofy photo of myself taken on December 26, 2014. As I recall, the photo was so goofy that even I did not have the guts to post it originally. I guess you can say that this photo was left on the cutting room floor. One year later, I am ready to resurrect it.  Here it is:

December 26, 2014

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December 21, 2015

This set of two photos remove the mystery for me as to why my glasses are constantly falling off. In the first picture my glasses appear to be pressed tightly against both side of my head. In the second photo, my glasses look a lot bigger on my head. The glasses are the same, it appears that my head might be a bit smaller. (Hopefully my brain did not shrink.) I don't even care if you still think I look a bit goofy in the second photo. I would rather be a goofy healthy thin person than a goofy unhealthy morbidly obese person. I never claimed that this diet philosophy would reduce goofiness. In fact, it does not!

OK THAT IS ONE SET OF PHOTOS.... BUT I AM NOT DONE YET


The next photo was taken as my family was waiting for a Blue Öyster Cult concert to begin. (You cannot imagine how happy I am that I finally figured out how to add an umlaut to a letter on my mac!) This photo from September 2010 shows me and my daughter who would have been about 8.5 years old at that time. I probably had not even come close to reaching my maximum weight of 309 lbs... perhaps I was a fraction under 300 lbs, who knows? What one can see is that I was a blimp. Thank goodness that "things ain't what they used to be..."

Daddy/Daughter getting ready for the start of the Blue Öyster Cult concert, September 2010
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I try to be a humble guy. I try to be modest guy. Here modesty is not an issue - I am a healthier and better looking and younger looking man that I was five years ago! And look at the beauty that my daughter became! Sure, it is true that she gained weight in the last five years, then again she also gained more than 12 inches in height! (That's the problem us adults face, we gain weight but we forget to gain height while we are doing it!) My daughter just had her Bat Mitzvah two weeks ago and there is one photo more that I would like to share.

This photo (December 5, 2015) shows the same two people that were waiting for the Blue Öyster Cult concert to start five years ago.  The years have been kind to both of us - especially my daughter who is growing up into a young, beautiful, intelligent and talented woman.  

I look at those older photos of myself and I can only stomach them as I no longer look like that. When I did look like I did in the past, I was not getting in front of a camera too often. It is not exactly shocking to wonder why I would be reluctant to be photographed. I guess I am glad that there are few photos of me in my portly state - as they serve to really show what changes I have made by diet and exercise. Yep, it was the Rabbi Hillel Diet plan that did the trick. I did not need pills. I did not need meals delivered to my home.  I did not need to go to weekly meetings. I did not have to learn new specialized recipes. I did not have to eat licensed food from some licensed diet plan. I did not need to eat cabbage soup morning, noon and night. I did not need to cut out carbs. I did not subsist on only carrots or some other ridiculous food. I did not need to avoid eating in restaurants. Heck, I didn't even need to completely avoid drinking alcohol! I needed only to follow the Rabbi Hillel Diet. This seems like a good place to restate precisely what that means:

"What is unhealthy for you, do not eat. That is the whole plan; the rest is commentary - go and have lunch!"

The inspiration of this plan comes from a story about Rabbi Hillel who was asked to teach a prospective convert to Judaism the entire Torah while the prospect stood on one foot. Rabbi Hillel accepted the challenge. "What IS hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary - go and study it!" (artwork by Sara, my talented daughter)

TAKE A LOOK AT THE PHOTOS ABOVE. THE RABBI HILLEL DIET PHILOSOPHY WORKS. IT CERTAINLY WORKED FOR ME. IT CAN WORK FOR YOU. ONE YEAR FROM NOW, YOU WILL WISH YOU STARTED TODAY. IN MY FIRST YEAR, I HAVE LOST NEARLY 100 LBS.  

This same philosophy should help me slowly shed a bit more weight - but equally important it should keep me where I am. I am not going back. I did that once before. It was about the dumbest thing that a person could do - and I did it. I vowed from the day that I started my lifestyle change on December 24, 2014 that I was going to be successful in losing the weight and that I was going to be successful in keeping the weight off. As I basically lost 85 lbs in the first four months - I have a small track record of keeping the weight off. I only have to continue to do what I am doing for the rest of my life. Just like everyone else. The reason that there are healthy, thin people in society is that they are working on it... It takes no effort to be lazy and obese, believe me I know. It takes some effort to be active and thin - and the payoff is great and so very worth it. I say to you today: Go for it!

Your Food Diary For:

Monday, December 21, 2015

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Trader Joe's - Organic Triple Ginger Instant Oatmeal, 4 Packet	560	108	8	12	360	40
	560	108	8	12	360	40
L U N C H
Omaha Steaks - Gourmet Franks, 1.5 Frank	360	6	30	17	1,170	2
Roundy's - No Salt Added Sweet Peas - Canned, 1 3/4 cup	210	35	2	14	53	18
libby's - Sweet Corn, 1.75 cup	210	32	5	7	700	25
	780	73	37	38	1,923	44
D I N N E R
Generic - Baked Lemon Sole, 1 filet	109	3	3	16	0	0
Wegmans - Herb Stuffing, 3 oz	120	15	5	3	270	2
Generic - Grilled Brussel Sprouts, 1 cup	65	13	3	6	23	0
Turkey - Turkey, 6 OZ	174	0	3	29	1,704	0
	468	31	14	53	1,997	2
S N A C K S
Banana Chips - Banana Chips, 54.4 g(1/2 cup)	235	26	14	2	3	16
WHOLE FOODS. 8497 - CHERRY VANILLA GRANOLA, 52.25 g (3/4 cup)	228	38	7	5	57	14
WHOLE FOODS - YOGURT PRETZELS, 80 g (approx 8 pcs)	380	56	0	4	360	38
	843	120	21	10	420	68
Totals	2,651	331	80	113	4,700	153
Your Daily Goal	4,349	543	145	218	2,300	163
Remaining	1,698	212	65	104	-2,399	9
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 2,419 extra calories from exercise today

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	Your Exercise Diary for:

Monday, December 21, 2015

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
STAR TRAC ELLIPTICAL	92	1,545
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace	41	568
Walking, 4.0 mph, very brisk pace	31	337
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-31
Daily Total / Goal	165 / 30	2,419 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	165 / 210	2,419 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 2651 calories

total calories burned (elliptical machine, walking) 2450 calories

total net calories 201 calories

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fitbit day 110
25041 steps

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um·laut

ˈo͝omˌlout/

noun

1. 1.

   a mark ( ¨ ) used over a vowel, as in German or Hungarian, to indicate a different vowel quality, usually fronting or rounding. Used by many rock and roll band names just to look cool, for example, BLUE ÖYSTER CULT

REPRESS YOUR STRESS

STRESS.  Everyone has some stress.  Some deal with it better than others.  One way of reducing stress in one's life is exercise.  I consulted a website maintained by the Mayo Clinic.  An article on Stress Management affirms that just about any form of exercise can relieve stress. An active person will naturally boost the 'feel-good' endorphins released by the brain.  This will keep you distracted from life's daily worries and make you feel good.  Exercise will improve your mood. It can also improve your sleep which is disrupted by stress.  This is in addition to all the other more obvious physical benefits exercise brings.

I can provide an anecdotal story.  Yesterday while driving on the poorly maintained highways that criss cross Chicago, I hit something and punctured my tire.   I was able to drive to a Firestone Tire location before my tire completely deflated.  This is the type of thing that was capable of ruining my day in the past. Nothing about this mishap was enjoyable, but I think I dealt with it better than I might have in the past.   Exercise does not make problems go away.  Exercise will keep you head clear so that you can tackle problems directly and appropriately.  There is simply no downside to exercise.

Here I am in a surreal photo before I started exercising again.  I could have used some endorphins to calm down.

While I was waiting for my tire(s) to be replaced, I was able to walk over to a very nearby Whole Foods.   As I was eyeing the sushi, I noticed that none of the packages had any nutrition information printed on the clear plastic containers.   I asked the sushi makers if they had any nutritional information for their products and indeed they did.  They pulled out a thick three ring binder notebook with nutrional information on all of their products. I found a suitable low calorie selection and had a most delicious lunch.

Whole Foods Kikka Spicy Tuna Roll, 8 pieces, 390 calories

TUESDAY MENU

BREAKFAST    three sunnyside up eggs, 2 turkey breakfast sausage links            275 CALORIES

LUNCH             SPICY TUNA ROLL, 8 pcs (7 oz)                                                 390 CALORIES

DINNER            2 cups Chicken Noodle Soup, 1/2 Beef Burger                              325 CALORIES

TOTAL CALORIC CONSUMPTION        990 CALORIES

CALORIES BURNED

5AM  TREADMILL: 60 minutes @ 4 mph (4 miles) 600 CALORIES
6PM   TREADMILL: 60 minutes @ 4 mph (4 miles) 600 CALORIES
8PM   TREADMILL: 60 minutes @ 4 mph (4 miles) 600 CALORIES

NET CALORIC DEFICIT     810 CALORIES

Yesterday I visited with two of my favorite customers.   I have met with these two people four times at least in the past 6 months, and they have not even opened their shop yet.   These two people had just seen me on December 8th.   I was wondering if they would notice my 30+ pound weight loss.  It really made my day, when they asked me if I had lost weight.  Absolutely made my day. 

Last week, I surprised myself when I hopped on the treadmill four separate times on Friday for a total of 3.5 hours in order to log 50 miles 'walked' for the week.   At the time I thought that I had set a personal record that I would not soon break.  I underestimated myself.  My 'exercise' week begins on Saturday.   Through the first four days of the week, I have managed to log 44 miles. (eleven hours on a treadmill, so far this week)  My long-term goals remain the same - minimum of 30 minutes of cardio exercise four times a week as the doctor ordered.  I admit I am going just a bit overboard this week.   I am a calorie and fat burning machine.   I believe that my pace of losing one pound per day should continue at least this week.   I will know for sure in three more days.

See how much less stress I have after exercising? 

BEFORE/(no after) PICTURES

Do you share this concern? Every time you see a before and after set of photos from someone who has lost weight - the before photos are always fuzzy and your are never really sure if the photos in the  after are even the same person? I don't have have the after photos yet. My weight loss journey only started 48 hours ago, right around the time I visited my doctor for a 'Wellness" visit and discovered that I weighed nearly 315 lbs. When I returned home to measure my waist and neck - I was more dismayed to discover that the measurements were 52" waist and 18.5" neck. I didn't need to visit the doctor to discover that I was overweight - mirrors that I passed as well as my belt were extremely effective in transmitting this data to my mind. I always figured that I could start a new diet (lifestyle change) 'tomorrow.'  Tomorrow was yesterday. It should be obvious that I only have the before photos. I am aware that this journal could become a bit more interesting with some comparative after photos.  That is the plan.  Marc