disneyland | 200by40 - Weight Loss the Right Way

Hi All!

2009/01/09 at 9:54 pm | Posted in Discipline, Exercise, Food, Inspiration, Life, lifestyle change, weight loss, weight loss blog, weight watchers | Comments Off
Tags: diets don't work, disneyland, weight loss, weight loss blog, weight watchers

Hey, remember me? Yeah, it’s that guy that used to post here quite frequently when he was losing all that weight. In case you’ve forgotten, my name is Dave. Nice to make your acquaintence again 🙂

At any rate, this is just a quick “hello” to you all that have either a) checked back and wondered how things were progressing and b) have come here for the first time and were wondering why last post was almost a month ago.

To sum it up, everything’s fine. I’m maintaining my weight and feel fantastic. It’s been over 3 months since reaching my goal and I still fluctuate between 200 lbs. and 205 lbs. maximum. No big deal; I’ve sort of conditioned myself to make those extra pounds feel like the 97 lbs.+ I lost total. In short, I refuse to go beyond that.

And just to show you that I’m holding up, here’s a picture of me while I was on vacation:

me-wrightwood

I took the family to Wrightwood, CA so we can all throw snowballs at each other. And boy, did we ever! Note that I am wearing a pretty big jacket so that may add a little poundage to the image, but you guys still aren’t getting a picture of me shirtless. Well, not until I lose those handles I’ve had all my life 😉

That’s all for now. I will be posting something shortly after my nightly Wii Fit routine. Thanks for checking back and see you later. And remember–stick with it and never give up! I’m proof of what you can do when you set your goal and go for it!

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Food for Thought

2008/10/19 at 6:39 pm | Posted in Discipline, Exercise, Health, Life, lifestyle change, Motivation, Photos, weight loss, weight loss blog | 4 Comments
Tags: diets don't work, disneyland, Motivation, weight loss, weight loss blog, weight watchers

Click to enlarge--if you dare!

A recent trip to Disneyland’s “Innoventions” attraction really woke me up to the magnitude of exactly how much weight I really lost.

While the first part of the attraction is more or less a commercial for a homebuilding company and what they are capable of creating for the consumer, there was much more going on inside the former home of “America Sings.” And take note that the image on the left may not be for the squeamish, but it’ll make you think!

What you see there is not some kind of insulating material for your home, but I guess it may qualify as personal insulation.

Those small to large blobs are actually a representation of what 5, 10, 15 and 20 lbs. of fat looks like. While it may be hard to gauge the size of the things since there really isn’t anything to compare them to, I think the image alone speaks volumes. Let’s just say that the size of the 20 lb. blob on the bottom boggled my mind the rest of the day.

I know it’s rare for me to leave an image full-size on the blog, but I think this one truly deserves to be. And just to put things in perspective, guys, I lost nearly 5 of the blobs on the bottom. So the next time you feel like stuffing your face with fatty foods, I dare you NOT to remember this image. I know I’ll remember it for a long time!

Ah, onto my progress. I’m still hovering between 199.5 and 202 lbs. I think this is more than enough wiggle room as I refuse to let myself go higher than 205 lbs. That’s just not happening. After the holidays, naturally I will concentrate my efforts on getting to 190 lbs. or so but for now, resting in the evening instead is doing me good 🙂 I hope you all are sticking to your programs as well!

Oh, and I cleaned out some more of my clothes from the closet ranging from size 40 to 48 in pants, and XXL and XL dress shirts. It worked out well since Ann hit Old Navy the other day and found some polo shirts (for work) in my new size at the amazingly low price of 99 cents each! Pants were a bit more costly at a price of $7 each; shorts were $2. In total, she spent about $25 for a bunch of new clothes for me.

So while I’m glad to have more room in there for clothes I truly need, I think a garage sale is now in order for the ones I don’t!

Without Whom: People

2008/09/29 at 10:17 am | Posted in Discipline, Exercise, Food, Health, Inspiration, Life, lifestyle change, weight loss, weight loss blog, weight watchers | 2 Comments
Tags: diets don't work, disneyland, thank you, Victory, weight loss, weight loss blog, weight watchers

Since I have completed my quest, I suppose it’s now time to take a moment to thank those that made it possible.

To my always outrageous wife, Ann, who graciously put up with my heartaches, triumphs, successes and failures over these past few years. She’s been the preparer of meals, my rock in my darkest hours, the yin to my yang.

In addition to listening to me complain even more than you readers have on this blog, she’s been married to me for over 15 years. At least you guys can close your browser if you get tired of me; she lives with this. If anybody deserves any kind of recognition for anything, I think it’s her. Take a bow, sugar beet!

To my son, Anthony. It took looking into those little brown eyes in 2006 for me to wake up and realize that I had an obligation to fulfill: to raise him with the healthiest father he can have.

The way I saw it, it was unfair to him to have Daddy be a lazy oaf that didn’t have the energy to keep up with him, carry him, or just do the stupid things that sons and fathers are known to do together. Fortunately, things are a bit different today and I’m glad to report that he gets winded trying to keep up with me, not the other way around.

So thanks, Anthony, and I hope you’re prepared to go on that camping and hiking expedition I’ve been promising next year. We’ve both earned it. I love you both!

To my doctor–that really is him in the picture–who made me realize that I was headed down an unhealthy path, one filled with health complications that I would have rather not dealt with. It was his recommendation of Weight Watchers that got the proverbial ball rolling and made me realize that this was something that I needed to do.

Thanks a million, doc. After hearing about your surgery, it was you to whom I dedicated losing my last pounds. I wish for your speedy recovery and I’m glad I didn’t let you down. I hope you recognize me next time I visit you.

Finally, thanks to all of you who subscribed to this blog or my personal blog and kept yourself updated on my progress. I’ve read and responded to all of your comments so I think you know that they definitely meant something to me and weren’t just a bunch of words strung together. In particular, I’d like to thank:

Kimberly at LadyGypsy.net who often dropped in to see what condition my condition was in and always left amusing and flattering comments. I’ve been a fan of her blog for years so having her stop by sprinkle her colorful bits wit and wisdom here and on my personal blog is always a treat. Thanks, Kim(berly)!
Preston at Me and the Blue Skies who claims to be a fatty but weighs less than I do. His blog is nine kinds of funny and definitely worth a gander. Thanks, Preston, and keep your eyes on the prize. You’ll do it!
Twisted Cinderella who, like me, writes a personal and is also writing about her trials and tribulations in the world of losing weight. That takes a lot of work and dedication, people, especially with a family. And all I can tell her is this: stick with it and you’ll be fine!
Lisa Winternitz who came across this blog and sent me some free South Beach Living products for my consumption and review. Thanks, Lisa, for finding me and giving me the opportunity to try and review these products.
All of you who have linked to me on your own blog. There are quite a few and while I can’t name them all here, thanks for reading 200by40 and adding a link to your blog. It’s really appreciated.

And believe it or not, there are a few people I’d like to NOT thank, including:

My high school art teacher, who was probably one of the most arrogant people I have ever known. He once told me I’d never accomplish anything while I was working on a project in class. Over 97 Well over 100 lbs. later, I beg to differ.
To a reader calling themselves Web Lover, who left an insightful comment in this post about my weight / pants size. I’d love to see what they look like when they are not behind the guise of the Internet.
All of those so-called blogs that stole my content and posted it on theirs in the hopes that my success would push sales of their diet pills/snake oil. I hope you got NOTHING in return.

Yes, on one hand it can be a bit of an ego this writing about your weight loss on a blog and damn near bragging to the world that you’ve reached goal, but I prefer to see it as being an inspiration to anybody who’s been turned off at the thought of losing weight or, dare I say it, go on a “diet.”

A diet won’t get you where you want to be in the long run; they are only temporary solutions. Only a change in lifestyle will yield the results you wish for, and will maintain for good.

I’m glad all of you went along on this journey with me, but there is still much left to do. No, there is! The next few milestones on the slate are:

Reach the 100 lbs. lost mark. With only a few pounds to go, that shouldn’t be too difficult. I will not be setting a time frame for this; it will happen when it happens.
Reach my new weight of 190 lbs. No, I’m not changing the name of the blog; being 200 lbs. by my 40th birthday was the original goal. I changed my goal to 190 as a way to get past those last few pounds that didn’t seem to want to go away and it worked like a charm.

With those two goals in mind, it means that the blog will obviously continue as will the Weekly Weigh-Ins until I deem they are no longer necessary to post. By then, maintenance will be the big challenge but if I’ve made it this far, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.

So again, thanks (or no thanks) again to all! Next up on the Thank You list: products.

See you soon 🙂

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