The Payoffs - Day 18

If you are getting in shape or losing weight what are the payoffs you are looking for?

I had my first one today.  I wore a shirt that I had not worn in several months because it was too tight around my stomach.  It felt good to not feel that shirt pinch when i sat down.

Now that isn't much but it is something that gives me that positive reinforcement that I was looking for.   So here are some of the payoffs I am looking forward to.

THE PAYOFFS

1.  Wearing the clothes in my closet I have outgrown.

2.  Getting off my high blood pressure medication.

3.  Being able to look straight down and see my feet.

4.  Being able to run / play basketball / or other sports without feeling so old and winded.

5.  Feeling more confident in my appearance.

6.  Not having my Wii say, "That's Obese."

7.  Not hearing people make fat jokes about me.

8.  Being able to buy life and health insurance at lower rates.

9.  Hopefully feeling and looking younger.

10.  Knowing I will hopefully have more years to enjoy living with Flo and serving the Lord.

Joe & Flo Report

Today I lost 3/4 pounds  - I have lost 13.2 pounds total.  It will be Monday before Flo can weigh again since she is off work.   We were talking about her program yesterday and have a theory that she needs to add in more meals and exercise to kick up her results.  I honestly believe she isn't get enough calories.  We are both still losing weight although you would expect the results to slow down.  I have lost 3 pounds this week and FLO has lost 2.  That is pretty good since my exercise has decreased.

Have You Got What it Takes? DAY 17

Have you got what it takes to lose weight and get in shape?  I was thinking this morning how  sometimes people lack that missing ingredient.  I know some days I do.

Here some things I think we need to reach our goal

INSPIRATION -  Inspiration is answering the question of why am I doing this.  Sometimes we lose weight for artificial reason.  I am losing weight to find a date.  That motivation can fail us later when we are married.

My motivation is my health.  I know personally that I don't need to lose a few pounds to look good. I need to lose a 60 pounds so I don't deal with some horrific issues later.  I don't want to get to that point that I can't exercise.

PERSPIRATION -  The second thing we need is the willingness to work at it.

I have to get up and walk, or go to the gym, or just do chair exercises.  Find a way to do whatever exercise you can.

I saw a story once about a morbidly obese man who could barely walk. He started his path to weight loss by just walking to the mail box.  Then every day he walked a few more steps. As the pounds came off his endurance increased.

I have to plan my meals.

DEDICATION -  I have laughed and told people that me and Flo dieted every monday between breakfast and lunch.  Now that is an exaggeration but we have started and stopped a lot.

I have found something that I can stick with and I am going to stick with it.

Zig Ziglar said,  You didn't gain weight all at once, you gained it one bite at a time and you have to take if off the same way.

Part of dedication is overcoming obstacles.  I have lots of obstacles.  Yesterday we had another meal at church, fried rice and spring rolls. I stuck within my boundaries and had a serving of fried rice and salad, and skipped the spring rolls.  That was really hard.

I was rewarded this morning with a half pound weight loss.  I am now down 12.5 pounds.

So think about what is your missing ingredient in your weight loss plan.

If you want to join me on the Body By Vi challenge please do.  It really helps to have folks doing the plan with you. Just click the link at the top of the page that says join the challenge and sign up.  I have been getting lots of encouragement from you folks.  Feel free to add a comment at the bottom of the page and we can all discuss what our missing ingredient is.  If you enjoy these articles I would ask you to share them with other or on Facebook.

Joe

Lean, Green, and Protein - Day 16

One of the focuses of my current diet is on eating...

• LEAN

• GREEN &

• PROTEIN.

KEEP IT LEAN -  I have been focusing on chicken and fish although there is nothing wrong with lean pork loin, or steak cuts like sirloin that are lean.  I have stayed away from ground beef, and other high fat meats.  This has nothing to do with being a low carb diet. I had pasta today.  Eating lean gives me more nutrition with less calories.  So that is a big win and helps me lose weight.

GO FOR THE GREEN - Green is synonymous with vegetables.   Green vegetables are great for a diet because they are normally low in calories and loaded with nutrients, low in carbs, and contain natural fiber. Choices like spinach, kale, collards, lettuces, (especially the darker green varieties) green beans, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and zucchini, are a few of my favorites. Actually it is not just the color that matters, but the make up of the vegetables, avoiding starchy vegetables like potatoes, especially french fries makes dieting easier.  I eat a lot of yellow squash, and enjoy California blend vegetables.

POWERFUL PROTEIN - Our body runs on protein.  Lean protein fuels our body longer than high carb foods.  Protein help keep down sugar spikes especially when combined with vegetables high in fiber.  Spreading your servings of protein through the day helps your body heat up your metabolism because it knows it is being feed. Body by Vi is packed with proteins and other essential vitamins.




Joe

JOE and FLO REPORT

JOE - I am down 12 pounds

FLO - Is down an amazing 8 Pounds

Day 16 Menu

Pineapple  Body by Vi Shake

Vegetable lasagna / California Blend Veggies / Spinach

Mocha Shake - That was really good.

Tilapia and Sautéed Squash

GOT GOALS? Day 15

Do you have any goals?

The Visalus Company who creates the Body by Vi shakes which I use created a 90 day challenge.  since I joined the challenge I set some goals.

You can see my profile and goals here.

My Profile

Honestly I expect to do better than the 30 pounds in 90 days goal I set, but if that is what I do I'll be happy.    I just watched a couple of videos today.  One was about a guy who gained 72 pounds to become obese and then lost it again.  He is a personal trainer.  Sure I know he did it as a publicity stunt for his book but it was amazing to see what a really fit guy would look like obese.

You can watch it here.

Fit 2 fat 2 Fit

Here is a story of a guy who weighed 700 pounds


Neal Burns

So I have bigger goals.  On my blog "About me" page.  I say that Flo and I are "Fat and Happy" but we want to be "Fit and Happy."   My ultimate goal is to get back down to my weight from high school.  To do that I will have to break 200 pounds.  I don't expect to do that in 90 days. The ninety days is just a start because I want to "Fit and Happy for Life"


So where are we today?

I am down a little over 11 pounds.
FLO is down 7 pounds.

Joe Palmer


If you want to join the challenge click here:  http://Niceguy4life.myvi.net/challenge

Week Two Report

Today is the start of week three for me in my Challenge.  Over the weekend my body weight fluctuated. I went up two day and then down today a little.  I attribute it to some changes in my diet.  I was eating some things that caused me to slightly overeat and hold water.

At the end of two week here are our results.

Joe - 10.1
Flo - 7 pounds

Now that is awesome.  I also have other family members doing this and they too are getting good results.  It depends you, your body, your self discipline.  I don't care what your diet is those are essentials.

Body by Vi is just an aid.  It has really helped me. Over the weekend I went two church events and didn't over eat due to the help of these shakes. Let me add that I am eating real food too.  I even at at one of the fellowship meals because some of the food brought was food that I could eat in a healthy way.  The other one I didn't eat because I simply didn't have time to stay for the meal.

We have to make our eating program fit our life.  It has to be able to fit back into the real world when we get to our weight goal.  I'll talk more about that later.

What to Do...

When you gain weight?

During my 12 day trek on this weight loss journey this has been the second day I have gained rather than lost.  I went up a little yesterday.  But really that doesn't mean anything.  The day before I lost 2 pounds on the scales. That doesn't mean I lost two pounds of fat. It just means I weighed two pounds less than I did the day before.

There are a number of factors than can influence your weight that have nothing to do with fat or muscle.

1. Sodium - If you had a lot of sodium you may be retaining water.
2. Cycle - A woman especially has a cycle that may be causing weight gain.
3. Exercise can actually cause muscle stress and cause your body to retain water.
4. The amount of  waste product in your colon.
5. You are storing more carbs which also means more water.

http://www.shape.com/latest-news-trends/3-reasons-your-weight-fluctuates-have-nothing-do-body-fat

STAY THE COURSE - So if you are like me on a 90 day challenge you have to know that you have got to stay the course. Keep a long term perspective. I know I am on the easy exciting early part of this ride.  I plan to stick to it for 90 days.  So before anyone judges me a success or a failure, see me in 90 days.

LOOK FOR A CAUSE - This is where a food diary comes in handy.  Look at what you ate differently or did that might have influenced you weight.  Yesterday I ate some black beans.  Did that cause me to gain weight. I am not sure. Honestly I don't think so.

DON'T GET DISCOURAGED - If we throw in the towel or revert to old habits then you are going to compound your problems. Don't get emotional about one day of weight gain.

ARE YOU EATING ENOUGH? - I had a friend who was trying to lose weight who was literally told by a dietitian that he was under eating and need to add more calories to his diet. He did and started losing weight again. Don't shut down your metabolism by starving yourself.

BACK TO THE BASICS - The bottom line weight loss is a matter of eating less than we consume. Over the long term there is a basic formula for weight loss.

CALORIES CONSUMED

-            CALORIES USED

=          WEIGHT LOSS

The way a diet works is by affecting the two variables. 

1. EAT LESS   - So we consume less calories
2. EXERCISE MORE   - So we burn more calories.

You may also want to go back to the food and portions that have been working for if you changed your diet.

The main thing is don't panic.  Just keep on keeping on.

Joe Palmer

ConGRADulations / Eating Plan - Day 11

ConGRADulations 

Today was graduation day in my town so here is a tip of the hat to all those who graduated.  To those of you still in the fight to finish school don't give up it is worth it.

WEIGHT LOSS

Today my weight loss hit another high. I lost 2 pounds.  I am down 11 pounds in 11 days.  I haven't even mentioned very much how much energy the nutrient combination of the products has given me.

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I thought I'd share something about my daily eating plan today..

BREAKFAST - This morning I experimented and made a pineapple/coconut Vi shake. I wasn't crazy about it but it was okay.  About 200 Calories

SNACK - I had a Neuro energy drank about 10 A.M. along with about an ounce of peanuts.

LUNCH - I had a salad with olive oil and Balsamic vinegar with half a chicken breast and some croutons.

SNACK  - I had another shake. This one was good.  I added a pack of swiss miss sugar free cocoa to my shake mix. I always use a lot of ice with my skim milk so I get a cold frosty milk shake like taste.  That was pretty good.  About 220 calories.

DINNER - I had a sautéed flounder.  I added some Tony Chacheree's and Old Bay to season it.  We had some brussels sprouts and steamed mixed vegetables.

After dinner Flo and I went for a walk.  I walked two miles.  She walked a little less than a mile.

This is a good schedule for me because it lets me mix in lot of protein with fiber, vegetables, and water and exercise.  I get the shakes and the joy of eating thinks I like.  My body never gets hungry and hopefully keep my metabolism up.