Ed. Note: This post is a personal checkin on my weight loss progress using the simple technique of eating real food in moderation. If you’re interested in how I’ve lost 26 lbs. so far without dieting, surgery, or supplements, read Food, Drink, and Decadence: How the French stay thin, which sums it up nicely. Thanks for reading.

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
- Picasso

Since the beginning of the year I’ve made some big changes in my life. At the top of the list are the following:

1. I have fundamentally adjusted my dietary habits away from packaged and fast food to eating real food in moderation. Goodbye, old Twinkie friend. Au revoir, Coca Cola and Mountain Dew - we made a great team for a while, but our relationship was clearly becoming destructive. Sayonara, my happy-go-lucky Cheetoh buddy - how I will miss your humor and salty witticisms, but your services are no longer required.
2. I left my corporate job behind a few weeks ago in pursuit of my own projects, including Almost Fit of course, as well as several others that are in the works. I’ve also started picking up freelance writing work already, though I really haven’t started pursuing it much yet. I am trying to launch at least one more site by the end of next week and then yet another in August. More details to come, but I can tell you that the second site is related to Almost Fit, and the third is focused on my technology background. And those are just the projects I’m talking about here…Fascinating, ain’t it?

Lots of other random things as well, things that are too boring to mention, but all of these changes have meant one thing:

My weight loss goals have been slithering quietly into the backseat - and that has to change.

To be clear, my eating habits with regard to quality are still intact for the most part (camping not included), which I am proud of. I still eat well, avoid fast food, and haven’t had a soda of any kind in months - but it’s the moderation and balance parts that have slipped into the shadows. My real food habits have been leaning much more toward the carb side of life (albeit good carbs) rather than the vegetables, and that has really ground my weight loss to a halt. I’ve been holding steady around 25 lbs lost for the year, give or take.

But standing still is not what I want out of life.

Regular exercise plus healthy diet equals…..?

One other note to my credit: Regular exercise has definitely taken root. I ran another 3.5 miles this morning, which makes another 3 sessions this week, including 1 running substitution of shoveling dirt for 3 hours (I know shoveling is not “training”, but it is definitely a workout). Another small goal accomplished. I am reaching the point where I am starting to crave running again, and I hope to fit in a longer run this weekend.

My year’s goal is to lose 50 lbs total by December which is very attainable if I just get back on the wagon.

Well friends, the wagon has returned. Now if I can just keep the wheels on.

My interim goal for this month is to lose 4 lbs by the end of July, and another 6 by the end of August. 10 lbs in a month and a half should be more than doable with exercise and moderation.

Are ya with me?

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“Look, Dave, I can see you’re really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.” [2001: A Space Odyssey] - Sir Arthur C. Clarke [photo courtesy of FilmReference.com]

When it comes to losing weight, managing stress over the last several months has been my biggest challenge. While I’m still ahead of the game at 26 lbs for the year, my recent progress has really slowed. (You can read more about my progress in my most recent status report, “Forget Lassie - Simple Carbs are Man’s Best Friend“.)

While it is certainly true that daily stress might be more manageable if I were exercising regularly (without question), here’s the problem: So far I haven’t been able to find the motivation that gets me out in the cold and rain of a wet Oregon spring. I am eating well, and I think those habits that I’ve been working on have really paid off in the sense that I’m still losing weight slowly. However, until I get a better handle on the pressures of my current situation and make room for regular exercise, I don’t expect that my weight loss will be accelerated further than it’s current rate. I am certainly not giving up on finding a way out of my front door to go for a run; however, some bigger changes might be in order.

In doing some reading about the effects of stress, it’s clear that beyond inhibiting weight loss, prolonged stress can have real physical consequences. In Dr. Will Clower’s recent book, The French Don’t Diet Plan: 10 Simple Steps to Stay Thin for Life, he addresses some of the characteristics of a body under stress, particularly as they relate to the overproduction of cortisol.

Here’s a summary of some of the common effects:

• Muscles: Blood sugar levels stay at higher than normal levels, which ultimately leads the body to break down muscle tissue in a search for more energy.
• Immune system: Antibody levels decrease, T-cell response to infection is reduced, and white blood cell count is negatively impacted. Common sense says that if you are stressed for longer periods of time, you are more susceptible to illness. Science agrees.
• Bones: Calcium levels in bones drop over prolonged periods, and the ability for the body to absorb additional calcium is reduced.
• Heart: Basic heart performance appears to be reduced by the overproduction of cortisol as a result of prolonged stress; arteries are also negatively impacted in their ability to perform properly. The ratio of sodium to potassium begins to weigh in favor of sodium, which is thought to lead to high blood pressure.
• Central nervous system: Neurological hampering begins, with side effects that often include insomnia and depression. Migraine sufferers can move from an occasional migraine to chronic. Prolonged stress also increases muscle tension (this again is common sense), which increases fatigue, which in turn requires your body to seek out more resources for energy. Of great interest is recent research that links excessive stress to creating eating disorders.
• Weight: Hormones responsible for cravings to eat more are produced (presumably in its search for more energy), but the focus of the expenditure of that energy is typically in your extremities. Your digestive tract is the victim in this case, which may partially explain why ulcers were thought to be stress related. Essentially, you eat more but get less nourishment. What’s more, in recent studies it has been shown that stress hormones contribute to storing fat in your midsection, which is linked to higher risks for certain cancers and heart disease.
• Habits: Eating faster, eating more, making poor food choices, and eating out of necessity rather than pleasure become commonplace. We wind up treating food like gasoline - cheap and convenient, with the stopover to acquire it reduced to a mild inconvenience. Eating should be more than just a mild inconvenience.

Need I say more?

In our culture, we have been trained to look for solutions in the form of a product or a packaged plan. We are told that if we just wait long enough, we’ll soon have a miracle pill that will cure all that ails us. It could happen; certainly we are farther along that road than we were when Sir Arthur C. Clark wrote the words in the opening quote for this article. Sometimes, however, the answer is right in front of us, without a shipping and handling surcharge, or a computer trying to lock us out of the vehicle.

I am taking this week off work, hoping to recharge, catch up on rest, spend time with my wife and children, and reconnect with friends and compadres in the blogosphere. By the end of the week I expect to know what the next week will look like, but beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess, and I’m OK with that.

Stay tuned.

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Life, these last couple of months, has been a gel-filled stress-ball’s squeeze-frenzied nightmare.

Here’s a little something about me: As I’ve said before, when the pressure is on, simple carbohydrates are my lifelong addiction buddies - the ones I hung out with when I was younger and more metabolically advantaged, and in whose company I dove head first into the shallow end of the dietary trouble pool. Simple carbs are the overly accepting old friends that I have to avoid if I want to “stay on the wagon” with real food.

Some people take a walk with Lassie to regain their center of gravity; I on the other hand, tend to take a drive to Taco Bell, hoping that they’ve finally figured out the Holy Grail of fast food: the lascivious matrimonial union of sugar, preservatives, hormones, antibiotics, and dirt-cheap meat.

Pulling around the finely crafted drive-thru arc of asphalt and concrete curb that says, enter dear friend, but know that there is but one way out, I think to myself: “What sweet and savory surprise awaits me on the shimmering ordering board this time, my old corn syrupy compadre? Is it a newly-conceived melding of steaming hot “cheese-ish” sauce, oddly and excessively chopped ground beef-like meat, and powdered jelly donuts? All wrapped in a freezer-burnt artificially-colored tortilla? Maybe I’ll be greeted by the hearty handshake of yet another Blast flavor of soda-lovin’-in-a-bucket, calling my name when I roll up to the crusty drive-thru microphone?”

I’ll go out on a limb here: If there is one place in the world that can stick just about anything into a tortilla and turn disgusting into sellable, it’s Taco Bell. Believe me.

So have I given up this whole real food thing? Am I now indulging in mystery beef bathed in succulent cheesy goo? Say it isn’t so! Read the rest of this entry »

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If you’ve been reading Almost Fit, you know that my approach to weight loss has been to abandon a lot of conventional “dieting” advice. In addition to fruits and vegetables, I’m eating a fair percentage of fat, carbs (in addition to the fruit), and chocolates - all in moderation. These choices coupled with a complete avoidance of all industrially produced low fat/nonfat/low carb products, soda (diet or otherwise), and eliminating the regular consumption of beer, and it has worked - I am at 23 lbs lost for the year, and counting.

That said, I’ve been stuck on a weight-loss plateau here for a couple of weeks - a sensation that I’m uncomfortably familiar with from years of trying every weight-loss program that would accept a pile of nickels. (South Beach Diet? Check. Diet Center? Check. I could go annoyingly on.) Of course, I am continually reminding myself that I am not dieting, so “plateau” isn’t really a concept that should fit into my mental picture, but if you’re a reformed career dieter like me, its going to enter your headspace from time to time. And it has.

My scale talks to me. I may need help.

Read the rest of this entry »

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For those who are new to Almost Fit, welcome. Almost Fit focuses on losing weight and improving overall health by doing one primary thing: Eating Real Food in Moderation. If you feel like my experience may be of some help to you, please consider subscribing by either email or RSS. Thanks.

Spring is just beginning to hit its stride here in the Pacific Northwest, as you can tell from this photo of the plum tree in our front yard. I’ve now completed my third month of reworking my dietary habits using the concept of eating real food in moderation, and not unlike this photo, things are really starting to take off.

Here is a short summary of my approach so far:

• Eat only real food. No low fat products, no low carb products, just whole foods that are minimally processed. I’m eating things like whole fat ice cream, chocolate, butter, and quality (read unpreserved) breads, grass fed and free range meats, and lots of fruits and vegetables. On a daily basis this means avoiding fast food, all high fructose corn syrup, and all artificial sweeteners and flavoring chemicals.
• Eat in moderation. I am retraining myself on what it feels like to actually be full.
• Eat with focus. Whenever possible I eat regular meals, slower, at the table, in the company of my family and friends. The biggest change is not eating in front of the television (except for my small portion of ice cream at night - but its dished out in the kitchen where I’m not distracted).
• Eat for quality, not quantity. This is more or less a combination of the first two items, but it stands as a separate category because it is a big change in my approach to food. Its a principle that affects the others, but is a concept I actually have to focus on consciously.
• Do not slip into the dieting mindset, because I’m not dieting. That includes counting calories. I’m purposely not dieting; I’m relearning what it means to eat well, intuitively.
• Do not use negative reinforcement/punishment. If I eat something that I decide was not the right choice, the goal is this: don’t worry about it. This is a life change, not a sprint to reach thinness as quickly as possible. Real life for most of us means occasionally making lesser choices.
• Practice moderate exercise. So far this is my weakest point in my estimation, but as the weather improves (and I get over being sick) I’m inspired to get moving.
• Educate myself on how to eat. This is my passion currently. There is so much that we all take for granted as being truth when it comes to diet, when in fact in some cases there is little basis for it. The more we learn about our assumptions, the more we find our assumptions have been flawed. Margarine is a great example.What are my current sources? In addition to an abundance of supporting advice from places like IowaAvenue and ProHealthBlog, my current reading list includes the writings of Nina Planck, Dr. Will Clower, Michael Pollan, Russ Parsons, and Mireille Guiliano, among many others. There is simply not enough time in the day to read it all.
• Be accountable. That’s what I’m doing here on Almost Fit, in addition to sharing my past experience and my current process. I’m attempting to be accountable to readers who might be curious about losing weight without dieting. Does it work? Is it healthy? I’m finding out and telling everyone about it; for me, that is my public accountability. My private accountability is, well, private.

So how are these changes working out? Read the rest of this entry »

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Welcome to AlmostFit. This entry is a personal note on my progress with improving my health through eating real food in moderation. If you enjoy reading this article, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed. Thanks.

In my history with maintaining a weight loss program, the single greatest contributor to failure has always been one thing:

Stress.

I am decidedly an emotional eater with a particular susceptibility to stress; i tend to overeat, or eat all the wrong things to a fault when the stress starts to mount. In fact, my food-related conversations often go something like this:

“$5.00 Venti Mocha with 4 shots? No problem - I need the caffeine. And the whipped cream makes it go down easier.”

“Would I like fries with that? I’ll leave that decision up to you, my fast food friend.”

“Do you have those bonus Twinkie 3-packs? No no - not the ones with the extra delicious treat - I want the pack of three, of the three packs. Get it?”

So how have I fared this time, so far? My work is currently at its most stressful; I’m working about 70-80 hours a week, working through the weekend. This does not including writing in the evenings and early hours for my own projects (like AlmostFit). We are approaching the release of our product, and the demands are more than just time; there are also significant pressures to uphold my part of the team equation in terms of providing pieces that the other team members need.

That said, the very good news is that by mid-month in March, although my weight loss has slowed slightly, I am still ahead of the game. I am currently at 17.6 lbs down for the year, and I hope to start turning the corner to speed things up just a little in the next few days through exercise. I have successfully added the beginnings of an exercise regime by getting out of the house for an hour between meetings (I generally don’t have time for a lunch break) to start walk/running at the track.

The exercise of course helps somewhat with the stress; but more than anything, since I’m not approaching this from a deprivation perspective, the stress has not resulted in the usual familiar pathways of fast food and a bag of chips. I am intensely interested in Gastronomy right now, reading everything on the cultural relationship with food that I can make time for. I also have an incredible support structure through my wife, who carefully listens to my requests when she prepares the meals, and helps me to improve the meals that I prepare with sound advice. Not to mention the inspiration that I’m finding all over the Web in people with a very similar situation, who are succeeding in changing their lives for the better.

In other words, I consider my slower weight loss a rousing success over the last few weeks, particularly as the stress has mounted. This in many ways is a first for me; and hopefully a good indicator of the lasting effects of the habits I’m both creating and destroying.

In gratitude, here are a handful of links that I’ve found particularly inspiring:
IowaAvenue.com
AndrewIsGettingFit.com
GetFitSlowly.com
ThisMamaCooks.com
CrankyFitness.com

Thank you to every one of you out there who are documenting your process and in turn, inspiring others.

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Ed. note: This post discusses the results of two months of eating real food in moderation. If you would like to know more about what I’m eating and how I’m doing it, check out articles like this one. If you enjoy what you’re reading, please consider subscribing to my feed. Thanks.

This weekend marked month 2 in my diet experiment: to lose weight and improve my health using only the basic concepts of eating real food in moderation. No low fat products, no low carb products, no paid plans or programs - in fact, as few “products” as possible, in favor of whole foods. My emphasis has been on eating more fruits and vegetables, but at the same time making sure to take in high quality meats, cheeses, nuts, grains, and so forth.

The Rubber hits the Road: Month 2 results

Here are the results: As of 1 March, I’ve officially lost 16 lbs over two months, which is exactly where I want to be pace-wise. I’m shooting for 1-2 lbs a week for essentially the rest of this year, using nothing but eating real food in moderation (and adding regular exercise in - soon). Read the rest of this entry »

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