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adamelijah's blog

Weighed this morning and I was between 297 and 298, meaning that for the first time in 9 years, I weigh less than 300 pounds. That puts me down 47 pounds since I started Nutrisystem about 8 weeks ago.

Don't know what what it was during the week, but when I weighed myself, I seemed to be osciliating between 301 and 303 all week. Then, skipped a couple days, and down to 298. I may not have been drinking enough water during the week. I was off work Wednesday-Friday and use my breaks and lunches to take some extra water.

My weight loss is being noticed by friends who haven't seen me in a while. At a local political luncheon, a man asked how much I'd lost. And a co-worker who hadn't seen me in a while noticed as well. I think the people who see you most see only gradual changes, so the first ones to notice will be the ones who haven't seen in a while.

Right now, I have to say that excercise and nutrisystem has been the secret of my success. I excercise twice a day, six days a week which means that I need about 4000 calories a day to maintain my current weight according to this calorie calculator. With Nutrisystem's diet, I get 1500 calories a day so I don't feel hungry because unlike past diets, I'm following the instructions.

Stood on the scale today. Weight showed 301.4, meaning 43.6 pounds lost and 41.4 pounds to go, putting me at the half way mark in changing my life.

I've already got one bear who sits at work. "Committment Bear" has a big number 20 on his back. There's a  reason that I brought him to work. I need to be reminded of commitment a lot. I was reminded of this yesterday when Carrot Cake was brought in, you know the real good looking kind that they sell at Costco.

Most of us are smart enough when someone comes up to us and tells us they're in a 12-step plan in AA not to bring them a drink or offer them one, and if we happen to make the mistake of offering one and the person tells us, "No thank you, I'm trying to quit," most of us are not insensitive enough not to insist.

No such luck with being overweight in my workplace. In the past I've become somewhat piqued by co-workers shove food at me, when I've been clear that I'm on a diet. When I've been even bigger, I've had food pushed on me. I try not to spread my weight around, but I know that even in my 20s, at some of the weights I've been at, cardiac arrest was a possibility. I even told a fellow employee that was insisting on me having a sweet that she'd be in charge of getting me out of the building when the big one came. That wasn't very nice, but neither was pushing fattening food on someone who really didn't need it.

Perhaps, it was because most of my fellow employees haven't struggled with weight to a great degree. Most of my friendly "tormenters" while not very thin haven't had the experience of a doctor telling them in their 20s that due to severe sleep apnea caused by their weight, they had a 40% chance of dying in the next 10 years. Those who've had some real weight problems. (As opposed to "I want to lose 8 pounds.") don't push. As for the rest, I know they don't mean any harm. They're just trying to be nice.  Though, in some cases, I wonder if I'm not like a dog on a TV show who people think will finish off their food for them. Or like Mikey. Like they said in the TV commercial, "He'll eat anything."

I'm trying to handle it with more grace and humor. Yesterday, cake was brought in for my boss as she's leaving our team soon. I was offered Carrot Cake several times. My boss even offered the theory that Carrot Cake would be okay because it had vegetables in it. Um, yeah.

I told her to ask the bear.

She e-mailed back, "The bear said yes."

I told her that I'd had a heart to heart with the bear and that he'd admitted that he was trying to boost Nurisystems profits for the 1st Quarter by keeping me on the diet. I said I'd consider reporting him as his conduct was almost "unbearable." :)

My boss let it drop.

While I've allowed myself some cheat days. (Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.) Boss is moving to a new team isn't quite enough to merit cheating on my diet.

I work hard at removing temptation. Yesterday, we got packets honoring Customer Service Week. I kept the Mug and the key chain, but through away the treats. Initially I put them in the drawer, but realized I was setting myself up for failure by giving myself an easy cheat in my first weak moment.

While Nutrisystem is the most expensive diet I've been on, the expense keeps me honest. I'm paying too much on this diet to make myself stay on it longer because I feel like some Carl's Jr. We're paying a lot of money and I want to make it worth every penny. I only have a pound and a half to go until I weight under 300 pounds for the first time in at least 9 years.

I was in the break room at work yesterday. Someone asked how the Nutrisystem was going and another of my co-workers said that must explain why I was looking smaller.

I had lost 39 Pounds when she noticed, now I've lost 40, and it's showing. A huge moment in weight loss when others can see the difference. Also, for the first time in years, I'm not Morbidly Obese according to the BMI and Dr. Stephen Halls. It would sound silly to celebrate. But it's exciting. Yippee. I'm "only" Severely Obese.

They strapped up in the VR device after I paid $10 for the ride.

The Virtual Roller coaster went up, down, around, and upside down. My wife was screaming in deligiht. I was screaming and was half way between enjoying it and wishing that I'd waited a little longer after lunch before getting on the ride.

When I got off the ride. I was disoriented. I couldn't get up. My wife then suggested, I might try unfastening my safety belt.

This had been the first weight loss goal I'd hit. For my wife and I to be under a combined weight of 500 pounds. What kind of Reward was this?

An important one. We'd approached the same ride in a nearby city and my wife asked about riding it. I did the math and saw we were a combined 40 pounds over the limit and told her we couldn't ride. There are things you do for your wife because you love her and when your weight gets in the way, it's a very painful thing.

For me, losing weight's not about being a picture perfect model of what a man should weight, so that I match the physician's charts. Rather, it's about a very simple goal: being able to enjoy more in life

To be able to ride the Bumper Boats.

To be able to kneel down in church to pray without worrying about whether I'll make it back up gracefully.

To be able to sit in an office chair without worrying about breaking it.

Yes, losing the excuse of "We're too big to ride this virtual roller coaster," is a reward in itself.

But I can definitely wait a while until my next ride.