My Story and The Plan

Hi, my name is J Brian (group responds HI J BRIAN). I am FAT. I have been for most of my adult life.

I will be A Fat Boy No More.

Three years ago I started a journey to become A Fat Boy No More. And since September 2007 I have been publishing my success and failures. This Blog follows me from the day I first started my weight loss journey and it focuses on the everyday struggles that people with weight problems have.

Prepare yourself for a very real and very challenging event in my life. I commit to being as honest and as clear as I can be in the webpage to chronicle my ongoing battle with my weight. The pictures can be explicit.

After 12 years of being bigger than I should be... ok lets just be honest. I was not big I was fat. I have been over weight and muscular for most of my adult life. But the muscular part has been over shadowed by a large layer of fat on my body. I've eaten too much and I lived a sedentary life. In December 2006 I weighed 320 pounds. The morning I weighed myself and saw that I was over 300 pounds I essentially went into a deep depression that day and I am sure that I ate another 5 pounds worth of food. But that night I decided that enough was enough. My weight problem had become more than just an appearance problem it became a health problem, a self esteem problem and it was starting to affect my business and income. I had to do something. And I had to be held accountable. Technology is a good thing. I decided I had to put it out there. I started texting everyone in cell phone saying "Officially a fat ass now I weigh 300". I had been lying forever and telling people that I was 250. And no one questioned it.

The first step I took was to hit the gym and cut my calories. I looked on webmd and found out how many calories there where in a pound (3500) and decided to create this formula to determine how many calories and how much extra exercise I had to do to lose 60 pounds by May 27th. My annual trip to Key West Florida. By February I had lost 25 pounds. On a plan that was essentially the same thing that Weight Watchers teaches you. Then life hit me. After being so good I just got tired of it. I had no real support structure. And so I just relapsed because I was on a diet. Not a life change. But between March and August I essentially maintained my weight loss. In April I got a part time job working in a restaurant as a bartender. Everyone thinks I was crazy to do that but the truth is I just needed something to make me active. I needed to get off my lazy fat ass and be active. I gave up sweet tea and I stopped eating beef for the most part. I chose bison. Which taste so similar and has a familiar texture but had half the calories. Nothing else really changed.

But I did not lose the weight I wanted. When I was in Key West I looked like a beached whale and I felt horrible. I have a picture from that trip that show the folds of fat on my back. I was so depressed after that trip. So I essentially just maintained until late July when my best friend Michelle told me that a guy we both worked with a few years back had lost a lot of weight thru some medical weight loss plan.

I kinda brushed it off. I was looking into Lap Band or some other surgery. Then another friend of mine saw Brad as well and said Brad has lost a lot of weight. So I called Brad and he told me about the plan thru Emory Hospital. I went to an info session on the plan and decided to enroll.

Before you consider any type of surgery please look into medically managed weight loss. IT WORKS. Your doctor or the Bariatrics department of your local university hospital can direct you. Too many of my friends had surgery and lost a lot of weight and regained it. Even with a smaller stomach you can eat ice cream all the time and gain it back. I have a friend that just did that.

So this is what I did initially. Follow my blog posts from the beginning and see the transformation.

Remember

Don't give up today because you fucked up yesterday.

16 February 2010

40 days and no what? Carnival it is...

Today is Mardi Gras or Carnival (which means farewell to meat). Today is the last day before the season of Lent. Lent is the 40 days not including Sundays leading up to Good Friday. In many Christian faiths especially those that were in existence prior to the 1500s observe this season. I do not consider myself an overly religious person but the idea of Lent appeals to me. Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock.

Lent originated in the very earliest days of the church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days.

Many people fast during Lent. There are many types of fasting. If you look back at OctoberFast. I essentially limited myself and it cleansed my body and helped take some significant weight off.

I have observed Lent for the last 16 years. Usually I give up one or two food items or categories. Usually it's Beef and Potatoes. But I don't eat that much beef in the first place so that is really not something to "give up" So how can I take the ideas of Lent... a time of reflection and taking stock in my health and weight and adapt it for my benefit.

This year I am taking Lent much deeper than I have before. Here are my rules for Lent Fast.

Abstaining from red meat, milk, butter, and cheese (fat free cheese is allowed).

Abstaining from bread (flour), white potatoes, and sugar

Abstaining from liquor, beer, and wine (except once a week)

So practically what does this mean?

It means I can eat veggies (except white potatoes), fish and other seafood, chicken, eggs. I can have beer but I'm limiting that to one day per week. No batter fried foods.

This is a very clean diet. I plan for it to help with my ultimate goal of 210.

In Lent you are only fasting 6 days a week. (you don't count Sundays) But for my LentFast I am fasting from the most unhealthy foods. My "Sunday" is not a specific day of the week. It's the one day per week I can have whatever I want. SHHH St Paddy's day is March 17th. I will be having a few Guinness that day.

I'll enjoy Carnival today and tomorrow I'm starting my LentFast.

Follow me for daily updates.




1 comment:

pslchubby(BEAR411) said...

Very enlightening. Thanks for sharing your experience and your knowledge. It's inspiring!