Time for a recommitment - to weight loss
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:
- 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.
- 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 
If you’ve been reading
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.
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.






