The Final Fifteen Pounds

It's hard to get going. I mean, sometimes it's like opening an old rusty car door that's been sitting out in a field for 8 years.  Right now, the pollen is hitting. And I'm not dripping or headachy or itchy. I'm just tired. It's wiping me out.  I eat dinner. Very pleasant time with my family, wife and five boys. They get going to a karate class. And all I wanna do is sit. Take a nap really. But I thought, I can get on that bouncer for a little while.  I put on an oldish TV show, The Magnificent Seven. BTW, the show choice is important. Don't want something where I need to pay really close attention. It's The Magnificent Seven, I already know the plot. But it also keeps my attention enough that I notice my effort that much. I start bouncing. Don't want to do it. But I get into the show. And in five or seven minutes, I'm warmed up. So I start doing intervals. Real hard for 10 to 20 seconds. Slow it down for 20 or 40 seconds. And I go ...

Walk We have all heard that walking helps us lose weight. Yes, there are other great ways, but walking can work for virtually anyone. When my #weightlossjourney began about a year and a half ago, I had a coach helping me. And he told me something I didn't want to hear. He told me that I had to exercise. I like to exercise, so that wasn't the problem, but I have an issue. I tend to injure myself when I workout--especially when I am lifting something.  But then, I thought about this. I can walk. I can walk like crazy. I walk in the heat (well hydrated). I walk in the freezing cold. I can walk in the daytime. I can walk at night.  Using a bouncer, I can even "walk" in my living room. And that's what I did. And I lost 40 pounds. Love it. I would be walking around the track at the college and it was so cold that my fingers cried. But about 20 minutes in, I didn't care. About 30 minutes in, every care in the world would just drop right down on the tr...

When something isn't working, it doesn't always mean trash it. So after battling hunger last week, and that setting me up for eating the wrong things at the wrong time, and after listening to guys like the Fat Burning Man, I decided to up the fat and protein content of my smoothie.  This morning I began drinking a smoothie with coconut oil and raw farm fresh free range chicken eggs added. It definitely kept me satiated until lunch time! Yes! I would still like to drink more water during the day. But there's a big but. It can be hard for me to get to the restroom between 11:30 and 3:00.  So I'm thinking through that.  I believe more water will help. So yes, I do feel better. In a week or so, I'll know if the tweaks are impacting my weight loss. How to tweak it?  Remember that the diet is an experiment. It's okay to try different things to get it to work. Not everything works the same way for everyone else, but there are basics that probably ...

There it is, right in front of you, sweet and sultry, saying here I am.  What to do?  The STAAR test in Texas is our state mandated, big-deal test. And we just spent Tuesday and Wednesday doing it. Even Monday was affected. Teachers are spent. Kids are restless. And admin is tired and appreciative of the hard work that teachers have put in. And what is the best way to show your appreciation? Bring on the doughnuts! It really is a nice thing to do. But for the teacher who is trying to lose weight, especially this one, it's a trap. Because I feel like I deserve it.  Is that sweet hole what I really want? I know it's not what I need. Do I really want to dump sugar, processed white flour and fat into my stomach? I don't. But it tastes so good.  But when I'm trying to lose weight, here's what happens (and this is what happened with Coke and me recently): it resets your body's expectations. It's something that happens in the brain. Now, the br...

One of the ways weight loss derailleurs get us, is that we don't think it through. Our belly is thinking. Not our minds. Or possibly our worries are blurring our focus.  Focus: I wanna weigh 173. This week: What I did well - ate more apples. Didn't eat candy or doughnuts. What I didn't do well - drank 1/2 a soda every weekday. Hoping that getting back on green smoothies will take that craving away from me. So I'm noticing something. I'm battling a huge headache everyday. I don't realize it's there until my aggravation has built up to the point where every little tap on a desk is bugging me. I believe the headache is allergy related. The rains in Texas have been unrelenting this year. So Spring is powerful.  This has caught me by surprise.  Here's my plan for coping with the daily headache. Reduce caffeine intake.  Eat inflammation reducing foods.  Obviously the soda has to go. Whole foods become primary. Processed foods need to fade...

Sometimes it's important to stick with habits that you know work, not look for some new thing.  So a few weeks ago, I stopped drinking green smoothies for breakfast. Why?  Because our blender broke. It wasn't the long-run plan.  Yesterday, I drank my first green smoothie in weeks and was so happy.  The green smoothie is packed with mega nutrients per cubic inch. If you have never had one I very much recommend you try. The one con is the blender. You need a high quality blender. We use the Vita-mix. They are pricey.  By the way, they are a great company that stands by their product. We are a large family with two adults and five boys. The Vita-mix is used more than any appliance in the kitchen. We have used ours roughly for more than a decade. We got a good deal from the company on a rebuilt model.  And we are back in business. Here's how you do a great green smoothie : start with a great blender use excellent greens - mo...

Mental challenges in the weight loss game can be so interesting. So peculiar to an individual. Here's one I will deal with tomorrow. On a typical school day, I eat lunch around 11. It's a little early, but I don't get to make my own schedule. If I don't eat at 11, I'm waiting until 3 or later.  But on Sunday, I usually eat lunch around 1, two hours later than a normal day for me!  So I'm famished.  Enjoy the Feast and Lose Weight And there is something wonderful before me: a feast. A table laden with wonders. Each Sunday is a different theme. One Sunday it will be Mexican food, on another it will be Italian. You get the idea.  And this is often the best food I've ever tasted. These ladies knock them selves out. I mean it is amazing. I want doubles of everything.  So here comes famished Lieberman with a big old white plate that cries to be filled up. On one end of the table are the entrees, then the sides, and finally the salads, not to mentio...

When you are trying to win at weight loss, there are good things that get in your way. The church potluck is one of those for me. I find myself at a potluck feast sometimes three times in a week. And by their very nature, church feasts are not designed to help the weight wary.  Last night was one of these. Long table filled with delights = I eat too many of them. And my scale goes orbital (exaggerating a little). I put too many white things and sweet things on my plate.  I need to go in with a plan.  Here's the plan for next time, probably Sunday: Decided ahead of time to fill half my plate with veggies.  Don't eat white things. Stop after one plate and refill on water or unsweetened tea. That ought to work. What would you do?

When we keep at it, the healthy habits return. Yesterday, I wrote.  And I anguished over my bad habits returning like so many pulled weeds: double dinner, Coke, burgers, junk. And yesterday I ate well, meaning green, healthy.  I went home and exercised. Third day in a row. I went to bed at a respectable time. I prevailed (Rocky theme plays in the background)! Why?  Here's how to get your mojo back. Be honest about how you veered from the path. Hey, write about it, maybe even publicly (okay maybe that part is stupid). But write.  Tell yourself what you did well (started writing, got honest about what I was doing, reestablished that I want to weigh 173 relatively soon) Admit what needs to get better   (I have a huge bag a peanuts in my desk--need to pay attention to how many of them I actually eat). Exercise, even if it's only a little bit (10 minutes turns to 30 before you know it). Start off right. You can get back ...

It is amazing how fast our habits can change.  So I went on a road trip. Did about 2500 miles in five days. Of course my diet changed. I ate fast food. I ate trail mix (the kind with M and Ms). I even ate a little ice cream to help me stay awake. I didn't get much sleep. I anticipated all of this.  What I didn't forecast was how hard it was going to be to go back to my healthy ways of eating. It has felt like it was dang near impossible.  I know better. It's not impossible.  And I knew it was going to be sorta hard. But man.  In those five days, I got so used to sugars and fats: my body and mind didn't want to go back to greens and fruits. For the last week, I've been drinking soda almost every day. Around 1 or 2 o'clock PM, I get this giant urge to fill my belly with Coca Cola.  Getting my mojo back is way hard. But I will. I haven't given up. Just knocked down.  One of the things I note above is sleep. Getting back to getting 7 or ...

I don't know where I first heard this: Write down everything you eat for at least five days in a row.  I'm on day five. And boy is it helpful. I use my fitness pal to log it all. It really helps.  It actually keeps me from pounding some things down, just so I don't have to write it down! I got clarity on three things: 1) I was drinking too much coffee, and it was making me hungry; 2) I was double dipping at dinner most of the time (more on that). 3) I wasn't drinking water when I felt hungry. Here's where I stand with that. I reduced my coffee intake. And I immediately enjoyed less hunger for mid morning food.  I'm a dinner double dipper. I eat two servings. It's hard to change that habit. In my mind, I'm willing to change this. I know that in a moment, I can add 600 or 1000 calories to my day. And not even realize I did it. That's why we write everything down. That way those extra servings here and there get accounted for. ...

620 calories is a lot in one sandwich. (Jack in the Box Grilled Breakfast Sandwich) Just looked it up on myfitnesspal. So, my routine needs tweaking. I need to do something different with coffee. Coffee makes me feel hungry. After I drink a second cup, I always feel like I need some protein. My plan is to start cutting back. Here's how. I'll buy coffee that has 1/2 the caffeine. I like the Community coffee with chicory in it. I'll order 1/2 caf at Java Jacks (my coffee house of choice). Let's see if that reduces my cravings for protein. On another note. Yesterday, went home and exercised for 45 minutes on the bouncer. Yes, I know it's a funny image when you think about 52 year old man bouncing up and down on a minitrampoline in a leotard. Just kidding about the leotard. On a positive note, the scale said 186 this AM. Did well on the dinner front last night. One dinner only. Goal for tomorrow: no snacking on 620 calorie sandwiches from fast fo...