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.

HALFTIME REPORT

When this blog began on December 26, 2014, I posted photos of myself weighing in at 309 lbs.  At that time I made a point of saying that these were 'BEFORE' pictures.  Obviously no 'AFTER' pictures were available.  It is now March 1, 2015.  I am about HALFWAY to where I think I am heading. When I started, I had the idea of losing at least 100 lbs. My thinking has recently crystallized into thinking that I might want to get down to about 195 lbs. If I achieve that goal, I will have lost 114 lbs.  I am now down 57 lbs.  I am halfway there...  which means....

IT IS TIME FOR THE HALFTIME REPORT.

I am measuring halftime based on the 57 lbs lost that I have lost in the first 66 days. I can not and do not expect that the next 57 lbs will be lost in the same amount of days. It is illogical to think that, therefore I don't. It really does not matter how long it takes, as this is not a race. It more akin to an endless marathon.

I have accomplished what I have accomplished so far by limiting myself to 1000 calories per day each day since December 24th. Since last Friday, I have been willing to let my caloric intake go a little bit higher each day.  So far, I have not once exceeded 1050 calories for any one day.  I have exercised every day since January 3. On January 3rd my 'workout' was a 4mph treadmill 'walk' for a whole 20 minutes before I became winded. My endurance has improved dramatically since then. I can increasingly often spend a full hour on an elliptical machine.

I have seen my blood pressure which was elevated at 158/82 reduced to 123/75 which my doctor says is completely normal and healthy.

I have seen my 'fasting glucose' level which were elevated at 114 mg/dL reduced to a normal and healthy 74 mg/dL.  I had been in danger of being pre-diabetic - that issue has been erased.

I have watched my BMI which was 42.0 (CLASS III OBESITY) drop down to 33.72 (CLASS I OBESITY)  I still have to get down to 224 lbs just to be considered only 'overweight.'  Although my BMI still has me classified as 'obese' - I am a lot less obese than I was.

I have watched my waist which was getting ready to go beyond 50" contract to a an extremely comfortable 44" and I see that I will be fitting into 42" likely within a week or two.

I have now learned to shop for shirts that are size L or XL.   I could only wear  XXL when I started, and they were not always big enough.  Some of my old shirts would look like tents if I were to wear them now.

I have watched my personal energy levels increase.  I thought I used to wake up early when I arose at 7AM.  Nowadays, I set my alarm for 5:30AM and I am often on an elliptical machine by 6AM.

I was becoming increasingly reliant on BLINK lubricating eye drops to combat 'dry eye' prior to December 24th.  I have noticed that I have not had the urge to irrigate my eyes in the last two months.  Is it possible that an improved diet has solved dryness of the eyes?  It appears so.

I have been told that I have cured myself of snoring.  Apparently being more than 100 lbs overweight is not very conducive for breathing well while sleeping.

I have cured a pain in my right knee that I felt every morning when I woke up.  This pain dissipated as the morning progressed.  That knee pain has been eradicated and is now a distant memory.

I have noticed that my skin is healthier.  I can see it most clearly in my elbows which look less like sun-drenched dry lizard skin.

And finally, I no longer hate mirrors.   In fact, I kinda like them.

The two sets of photos that appear below were taken on December 26, 2014 (two days after I made the decision to change my life and lifestyle) and yesterday, 67 days after that same decision.

A final note about these photos.  One might conclude that my weight loss has stimulated hair growth. Sadly, this is not the case. I got a buzzcut haircut right before the December 24th pictures were taken. I have not had a haircut since then. Although I look even 'balder' in the December pictures - I am just as bald today. My healthy diet and cardio exercise have not stimulated any hair follicles.

SATURDAY MENU

breakfast     OAT MEAL w/PRUNE, 2 poached eggs, 1/2 salmon burger      350 CALORIES

lunch           TWO CUPS SIRLOIN BURGER SOUP, Mixed Green Salad    320 CALORIES

dinner         Costco Turkey Burger, *Spring Mix Salad, Tortilla Soup    370 CALORIES

*(no longer do I always add dressing to my menu as I have purchased ZERO calorie dressings)

TOTAL CALORIES CONSUMED  1040 CALORIES

CALORIES BURNED

6AM   elliptical machine 32 minutes                    440 CALORIES

2PM    elliptical machine 33 minutes                    460 CALORIES

TOTAL CALORIES BURNED  900 CALORIES

NET CALORIES     140 CALORIES   

This is the chart from my app, MyFitnessPal, which shows a fairly steady decline in weight over the past two months.   I started at 309 lbs and as of yesterday, I was 252.1 lbs.   I would have never believed that I could have had this much success so quickly.  I wonder what the next two months will bring? 

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