The BLF Get-in-Shape Thread: (formerly, "A Newer, Thinner Rusty" Thread)....

Congratulations Rusty Joe. Very impressive accomplishment.

Thank you for the condolences Rusty and Totilde.

I’m modding the plan slightly. For better or worse, it’s hard for a modder to not mod everything. When actually hungry (not just craving) during the day, I will eat a piece of fruit like an orange or an apple. I’m doing this because I don’t like including fruit in my meal (which will be in the evening).

An observation. When I include a dessert or simple sugar in my meal, I become very hungry later in the day. On the days I cheated, I had had dessert with the meal. So just carbs from veggies and whole grains from now on. That is what has worked on the days I didn’t cheat.

Weekly Report - 4th week on Rusty’s plan:

This week was another challenging week on a couple levels, but a good week on other levels. Thankfully, it ended positive on all levels. My mother had to go to the hospital this week for couple days. It was scary, but the good folks at the hospital did a great job and it’s looking like she will be fine. She’s home now and getting stronger. I did better diet wise this time (compared to last with a similar situation), but I did cheat once.

The other challenge was an out of town wedding yesterday for one of my nieces. Great wedding and all, but it made following the plan difficult. I ended up eating 2 separate meals yesterday and a snack last night.

The great news is that despite the above, I lost 6 pounds this week. It would have been more if not for the above. I now weigh 271 and I’m very excited about stepping on the scale next week. Making evening my meal window really helped a lot. It was kind of cool have a big meal to look forward to after leaving work.

All in all, Rusty’s plan is really working for me. 24 pounds lost and have much more energy. It’s not a hopping around, bouncing off the walls type energy. It’s a continuous, even, lower level energy. In the evenings now, I don’t like sitting on the couch for long. I find myself doing stuff instead.

How are you other guys doing? How about you Rusty?

Ah, I was waiting for your next update.

It’s good to hear you are trucking right along. Just remember: regardless of what others do, you are doing what you are doing. You shouldn’t need really any approval or support. You do what must be done. Don’t let those frequent social engagements that pop up and crisis times jinx you. There is nothing wrong at all with sipping a beverage while others eat. Then again, what you are doing is obviously working—and true to form for a modder, you are finding what works! That’s great! No one can knock that! Just don’t get sidetracked with time’s fleeting concerns.

One word of warning; as you seem to be experiencing, the sugar stuff does work against you in reigniting the old cravings flame (aka blood sugar spikes), especially at later points in your day. I learned this some time ago and found that my body was happier staying with sweet treats on certain days and none on others. Remember to not be afraid to change out the meal replacement beverages regularly, as this will increase their appetite supressant effect and your taste for them.

As far as I’m doing, well, hey, no worries for me at this point. My weight jumps beautifully between 194 and 202 and I maintain optimum functioning. This is good because I’m doing as I’ve done and have found that at 2,800 calories, I can maintain weight and be fairly active. Just took a while to see the effects. Once you’ve been losing for so, so long, your body wants to just keep on keeping on.

Had tons of fruit this week and one 3,805-calorie day. That day, I felt less great than the others. lol Whereas if I stay at 3,400 calories, I can be gruelingly active and feel just dandy still. Thing is, I find that I just don’t need to be that active, so I’ll follow my 2,800 norm. Several days of the week, I drop back to 1,800 and 2,000 calories and my body quickly drops down to around 197 or so lbs. It’s amazing how, at any given time, we have so much food and water in us, which significantly changes our weight. it’s nice to not be afraid of these fluctuations as I once was. I guess I can now say that having been in maintenance helps with that further.

Had a huge party last night. Was a blast. Had nothing, but this “breakfast”/dinner, had leftover Popeyes chicken, some green beans and rice, and then some blackberries, grapes, strawberries, and 3 apples. Totalled out at 2,615 calories (if I counted right—not that I really care). May get some good ole’ weightlifting in tonight after the hot date I got planned! :slight_smile:

Weekly Report - 5th week on Rusty’s plan:

Life disrupting challenges continue, but all in all, progress was made this week. Actually, I think this new life style has helped me better deal with the challenges. I only lost a little over 2 pounds this week. Probably would have been more if I could have gotten some decent sleep. I weighed in at 268/269 this morning.

The only deviation I have taken from Rusty’s plan is to eat an orange or apple around noon to early afternoon and only if I’m hungry. I’d say that is about 50% of the days.

It’s funny, eating more than one meal no longer appeals to me. This is no longer a “diet” for me. It’s just how I eat and it’s effortless now.

Too cool, man. Too cool. So glad to hear it.

Just showed my new self to a whole bunch of peeps I used to work with—suffice it to say that Yours Truly was the talk of the party! :party:

That had to be a great experience. I imagine some of them may have had a hard time believing you were actually you.

Totally true. Even after I was ready to move on, I was still the talk. It became almost altogether awkward—and getting hit on by certain…open…women who were hooked up with my buddies…even more awkward. lol

EDIT: An old buddy is now jealous. No kidding. Just got off the phone with a cousin. The buddy always dogged me for having health problems, and now that his “tire” is quite big and noticeable, he’s been talking “sh!t,” so I hear. :smiley:

Can’t believe it. I am just sitting here beside myself.

Same here for me…I still fudge here and there, eating mostly fruit or maybe a slice of sandwitch mean with a chunk of cheese inside it but no longer eating 3 huge meals a day

It too has become the “norm” and no longer a diet…sure I slip but I just make sure I try harder later on….I feel great like you were saying in week 4 as well…I just “feel” better

Not weighing myself but I can definitely tell my belt is getting alot looser

No longer feeling like a diet…and sure I get mega hungry before the meal for the day but if I don’t think about it or chug alot of water or drink some green tea it reaaaaly helps

Awesome.

And yes, this teaches you a lot about your ability to stop excusing yourself and licensing some bad eating habits based on what bad things happen in life—a huge, massive problem to go with the waistlines of many of the obese. And it’s nice not to feel groggy and crappy and be a slave constantly thinking about food, aye?

BTW, today is June 1st, which marks exactly a year when I started.

As far as cheating, I took some time to remember when I cheated…

-I cheated with a glass of white grape juice (140 calories) at a celebration once on this last New Year’s Eve.
-I had a can of V8 (74 calories) once about 9 months ago.
And I got drunk on vodka at a party back in late January (91 calories per shot took just four shots to get me stinking drunk on Grey Goose!).
-That party the other night (no idea, but I know a single 24 oz glass of Merlot, that cheap stuff from HEB, had me stumbling to lie down).

I tell ya, being a lightweight really doesn’t allow for alcohol handling! No kidding!

Wow, that is true discipline. I freely admit that I could not do that. If I get too hungry, I allow myself something small. It doesn't take much to satisfy me and hold me to dinner. Usually a fruit does the job. Like you've said, you have to do what works for you. In your case, it appears that strict compliance to you plan has worked for you. If I get to a point where I quit losing, I will probably tighten up my compliance.

Weekly Report - 6th week on Rusty's plan:

I lost a little over 2 pounds again this week. So I've lost 29 lbs total now (Weight 266 this morning). Almost halfway to the top end of my goal. My "fighting" weight when I was young was 225-235. I'm older now and have less muscle mass. So I will reassess when I get to that range. Probably will need go lighter weight range than that.

I have an IRL friend who had a GB surgery. It went really well for him. It was the usual: he looked like death for a few weeks, losing weight the whole time, then continued to lose weight (and look better) until he got way down. He probably went from ‘morbidly obese’ down to middling ‘overweight’ or something along those lines. Maybe dropped 140lb. I think he and I both knew that if he had had the discipline he could have done that on his own, but he didn’t - it is what it is. Anyway he was and is happy with the outcome and for years he was the talk at parties. It felt great to hear people say how much better he looked & etc. I still feel proud of him when I think about it or the subject comes up. He was unrecognizable to the point where sometimes I’d get confused, and I saw him daily. People who knew him but saw him less often often did not recognize him at all.

So I know exactly how great it is to show up and be a whole new person. When surgery is involved like a GB or lap band people find it possible to dismiss the weight loss after a while. They are still impressed, but they can get over it eventually. I can see how doing this all on your own would just blow people’s minds and leave them staggering for hours. Even with the awkwardness that brings, I know that had to be great.

Actually I think that's great, and definitely something I'm looking forward to, in terms of having less of a tolerance to alcohol. It definitely would help my wallet if nothing else to be able to be pleasantly buzzed from just 1-2 drinks instead of 8 to 12. It's also shocking how many calories I've ended up consuming that way... probably ~1500-2000 calories just from booze, not to mention any junk snack food.

Have you tried intermittent fasting, as part of the OMAD routine, basically taking a day or two off altogether from food, during the week?

Reason I'm asking is I'm doing a short fast (today is day four, water only since tuesday) plan to end it saturday or monday, depending on how I feel, and after will be giving OMAD another shot, but I'm tempted to try introducing one or two days off completely without food. At it turns out while I have damn near zero self control when it comes to snacking, skipping food altogether, especially for just a day, is quite easy.

This time around, I hadn’t done any total fasting, but I have many years ago. Doing so occasionally does seem to jump-start weight loss, although the best way is either OMAD or bi-OMAD (yes, you can also have a day of grazing followed by a day of total fasting—followed by another day of eating, etc). But this, IMO, is not as satisfying as the standard OMAD I do. Then again, the big factor everyone who has done it can agree on is that it takes actually less self-control than the moderating business.

That said, I enjoyed two big home-cooked meals today, followed by a killer pushup routine and cardio workout. As I’m sitting up tracking a storm and watching TV, I’m relishing the new exercise mats mom got me. They got their first use tonight!

That's the main thing... self control. I found it incredibly easy to skip one day of eating altogether. Ended my fast yesterday, with some chicken and rice because of a family dinner, but still running a calorie deficit of at least 6000 calories for the week. Feel fantastic today :D

Exercise is going to be the next big step. For now my goal is to start off with just an hour to two of walking every other day (or everyday weather permitting) and go from there.

Edit: An interesting side effect of the fast, the chicken and rice tasted way too salty, meanwhile fruits taste incredible.

Weekly Report - 7th week on Rusty's plan:

I lost 2 pounds again this week bringing my total weight loss under this plan to 31 lbs (Weight 264 this morning). I think this will be my last weekly report. I'll update when I hit my target range. I'd like to thank Rusty one more time for providing me knowledge and inspiration needed to get on track to a healthier weight and life style.

Speaking as a son who lost his father at an early age due to health issues because of his size, I must say that you have done a fantastic job and i hope you have a long happy health life with your family.

Take care and God Bless you and your family.

I’m still on the program too…I need to start measuring my weight losses as well

And yes…I need to exercise as well

Down 14lb since starting in earnest as of the 9th. Still working out the kinks, but it's nice to see the change on the scale.

Biggest thing I'm having difficulty with is sticking to only water in between meals... keep cheating with drinking 2-3 cups of coffee, with cream and sugar, or a cup of juice during the day.