One year and counting

Today I had my annual physical with my doctor.  We're not going to dwell on blood chemistry, other than to say my LDL "Bad" Cholesterol is the lowest level it's been since I started seeing this doctor 6 years ago.  And to say that my HDL "Good" Cholesterol is better than it was at the start of the process, but not as good as six months ago.

The big news, of course, is that on April 29, 2011 I weighed 282.5 on my doctor's scale and today I weighed 221.0 on my doctor's scale.  61 and a half pounds in 12 months.  I have another 21 pounds to go to hit my final goal weight.

That's the good news.  The bad news is that my weight has hit somewhat of a plateau.  On March 23, I was 222.0 on my scale.  The lowest I've had since then was last Sunday, May 13, when I was 220.0.  The doctor and I discussed my diet, and potentially tweaking it a little . . . but he says I've reached the point of diminishing returns on my diet.   So now it's time to exercise more . . . I was afraid he'd say that.

I'm already walking three miles a day, most days.  On those occasions when I've tried to run, I've deeply regretted it the next day.  However, I'm assured that with ice, Tylenol and icy-hot, I should be able to lumber my way through a mile run a few times a week.  We'll see.

I'd much rather reflect on what I've learned on 366 days (Leap year!) on the diet. . . which is not what Dr. Agaston wanted me to learn.   The ACTUAL South Beach Diet focuses on lots of vegetables and on "good carbohydrates" and lean meat.   What I REALLY discovered was that even the bad foods are OK if you deal with proper portion sizes.

Tonight's dinner, for an example.   I had 4 oz of lean beef, a half cup of steamed broccoli and 2.5 oz of New Potatoes (boiled, not fried).   The potatoes are a "V" in the South Beach book, meaning "Very Rarely."    367 days ago, I would have had twice as much meat, and either twice as many potatoes, or maybe some pasta.  And definitely some bread.   And dessert.


The other fun thing is that the diet has forced me to change the way I cook.  Yes, we occasionally fail just a little bit, and give the boys something less healthy and more kid-friendly.   But if you'd told me at the beginning of April last year that the end of this week I'll be enjoying roasted fish and vegetables for dinner.  I would have laughed at you.  I ALSO wouldn't have believed you if you had told me that every so often we're vegetarians for a day, or that we'd have a garden to grow our own fruit and vegetables.  (It's true!  Planted last Saturday, with Tomatoes, Eggplant, Squash, Zucchini, Peas, Pumpkin, Cucumbers and Watermelon)

Tomorrow morning, I'll get up, weigh myself -- and hope it's less than the 220 that my scale reported this morning.  And then I'll make the first entry into a new spreadsheet. . . and instead of telling me that I've lost 57 pounds (MY official first day weight on my home scale was 277) . . .it's going to say weight lost = 0.

For the OTHER big number -- my BMI at the start of this process was 39.74, which is defined as the medical community as "Severely Obese." (40.0 is "Morbidly Obese) Today it's 31.56, which is listed as Moderately Obese.   My next serious goal is 209 -- which will bring my BMI to 29.9, which is the highest BMI to be listed as "Overweight."

My lovely wife, in sticking with MY diet, has also lost 30 pounds, and she wants to lose another 30 -- which would get her to her pre-kids weight.

So, on to year two!