Plateaus: An Internal Dialogue

June 8, 2015: 287 pounds

It's been four days since I got the joyous news that, after only one week of conscious eating and major dental work, I weighed in at 285 and lost my first ten pounds. At that rate, I figured, I should be back in size 34 jeans by the end of the summer. So I doubled my efforts, counted my calories, and did everything right. And now I am up 2 pounds to 287. Here's how the dialogue in my head went this morning:

The First Ten Pounds

Nothing insightful today--just an update. After one week of blogging (and dieting) faithfully, I have dropped my first ten pounds, from 295 last Thursday to 285 today. For this stunning success I credit my iron will power, the social rewards of blogging, and major dental work that left me unable to actually eat food for six of the last seven days.

Fat Blockers: Not Gunna Do It

June 3, 2015: 287 Pounds

Dang it! The scale went the wrong way this morning. I hate it when that happens. According to my fitness app, I should, by eating 2100 calories a day and exercising moderately, lose exactly 2 pounds a week and hit my target weight some time next March. Science, people, science.

Haggis and the perils of travel

Haggis, neeps, and tatties (not in that order)

John: June 2, 2015: 235 Pounds/39% body fat.

Hello, my name is John Crawford. I am a librarian and I've spent the last three years or so working for the government in Germany. I will be leaving soon to take up a new position in the American South (land of barbecue). This does not bode well.

The Buffets of Satan

Michael: June 2, 2015: 286 Pounds

I'm telling myself that I am not on a diet this time; I am on a quest to renegotiate my relationship with food. I am trying to solve a psychological problem, not a physical one, so I am not making lists of do's and dont's. Normal people (I've heard) don't do it that way. They eat all sorts of things, but they are less compulsive about it than I am. So don't expect me to always say no to ice cream after dinner.

That said, there is one thing on my "NEVER AGAIN" list: buffet tables. I can never go through another buffet line as long as I live.

Loving Food vs Loving to Eat

Michael: June 1, 2015: 287 Pounds

The pounds are flying off. This has happened before when I have started seriously focusing on losing weight. One of the advantages of being morbidly obese is that you can fairly quickly get down to just extremely obese.

I Cook, therefore I Eat...

Aldo: June 1, 2015: 314.5 Pounds

And I exercise, therefore I eat. And I drive, shop, pray, argue, write, play…you get the idea. I was raised in one of those big European households where conversation was lubricated with butter and argument punctuated with a pan-fried chicken cutlet.  Good food was weaved into every aspect of my life; eating sharpened the highs, softened the lows, and served as a trusted companion always.  When, after high school, I took my senior trip through many of the capitols of Europe, my journal may have mentioned the occasional museum, ruin or monument, but the bulk of the entries focused on the fabulous out-of-the-way trattoria, amazing biergarten, phenomenal poffertjeshuis, or spectacular sidewalk café that I found along the way.  I only realized how distorted my priorities were when my then-girlfriend (now wife) laughed out loud at the absurdity of taking a life-altering journey, only to focus on the menu.