The Lousypoet

So it was my birthday yesterday. I went to get weighed in at Dr. Poon’s office. I lost 4.6 pounds this past week, but the doc was non-impressed because it was all water weight and I actually gained a pound of fat… Must do better. However, I cheated my f’ing face off yesterday (and most of today) because I turned 35 and, gosh darn it, I need a good pig out. So I probably just gained all that weight back. Now I must hardcore diet for the next two weeks. Still on phase one (this is the third time now) and my next weigh in is Thursday July 23rd.

I am sitting here in pain after working out with the Wii program My Fitness Coach. The cyber instructor, Maya, kicked my ass with 60+ crunches in a row. Not easy for still being 35+ pounds overweight and having not done a crunch in, say… 3 years or more??!! Anyway, it’s my 6th day doing the workout, which is about five more days of dedication I’ve given any other workout routine, so we’ll see if it sticks. I do feel a little stronger, and some of the exercises are coming easier, but those crunches, damn…

Not much else going. I have to get the hell upstairs and clean up for bed. I need to be up in 5.5 hours to go into work. Day shift, blah.

Well, when there’s more, there will be more bloggin’. ‘Till then….

So I turn 35 today. I suppose it’s kind of a milestone. If I live to be 70, I’m officially at the mid point of my life. However, with my diet in full swing and I’m now doing exercise, I’m hoping that I still have a few more years until I can say that.

I go for my weigh in today at Dr. Poon’s clinic in Richmond Hill. I admit, I cheated a bit this past two weeks. I’ve tried to be good, and admittedly most of the cheating happened right at the start of the two week period, so hopefully my results won’t be too disappointing. Carolyn’s been really good, but she hasn’t shed the pounds this past two weeks that she did in the first. She’s pretty bummed and afraid she’ll get kicked off the program because she hasn’t lost as much weight. But like I told her, as long as you’re still losing and keeping it off, then the diet is working. We’ll see how today goes. I admit fully that I will cheat tonight as it is my birthday and my eldest son has put in a specific request for dinner, that I’m sure will see me cheating. But I’ll be back in full swing tomorrow.

In regards to the diet, Carolyn has been making some amazing food! It’s been such a pleasure to eat home cooked meals that taste really great and are a complete change from what we used to eat. Whether I lose a ton of weight in a hurry or it takes time, I am feeling better. I feel like my system is running more smoothly. My asthma has improved so much, that I can take flights of stairs several at a time without so much as a shudder. Previous to the diet, I did one flight of stairs and was puffing. The doctor says this might be the exclusion of dairy, which is news to me. Funny seeing as how I’ve been battling asthma all my life, and no one ever mentioned I should consider cutting out dairy! One of the creative things Carolyn has been doing is with paddies. Last night, she made some chicken/pork paddies that had a real Mediterranean flair. As well, we did some beef paddies that tasted like Italian meatballs! These things eaten with salad make for a great meal. It also means that I get to contribute by using the barbecue, so it’s a group effort!

For a workout, I’ve started using the Wii program My Fitness Trainer. For me, it’s been a great program so far. It takes all your measurements and creates a custom workout based on your desires of losing weight or toning certain areas. There’s apparently 450 or so exercises, so I think there’s lots to keep me going. I haven’t even purchased any hand weights or any other exercise equipment, so I know that I will continue to be challenged for a while. But I will say, I hurt in places I haven’t known in a long time. But I also feel a but firmer in places that have been flabby for probably even longer!

I haven’t sat down to write any of the my proposed novel. I’ve been giving it a hell of a lot of thought, and made some notes, but I haven’t found myself with any concentrated time to sit and start writing. I’m thinking that will be the greatest challenge. Though I suppose I could be writing that instead of this blog post, but sometimes you’ve just gotta blog.

Anyway, that’s it for this morning. I’ll be getting back here to let you know how the weigh in went. Based on my home scale, it doesn’t look like I’ve lost that much weight. We’ll see. I fully expect to still be on phase one.

So I weighed in on Wednesday. In the two week period, I lost 10lbs on Dr. Poon’s diet. And to be honest, with the number of times I strayed, I might have done even better. Still, 5lbs per week is pretty sweet!

The doctor said we should stay on phase one for at least two more weeks. This is fine by me, cause I’m really finding this diet is enjoyable. And the thought of losing another 10+ pounds by my birthday sounds down right fantastic! That would put me at 229 lbs, about 35 pounds away from my target.

Eating this way has been very eye opening. I never truly appreciated how the food that was going into my body was affecting me. Truthfully, it was nothing for me to eat McDonalds on a weekly, if not several times weekly, basis. Now, I wouldn’t touch that stuff unless I had no other choice. In fact, I’d rather deal with a growling stomach than eat McDonalds. Who knew that the body would accomplish such a quick about-face?

For me, the Dr. Poon diet is the way to go. If I were counting calories or points, I would still eat the same crap, I just would starve myself to do so while staying within my point allowance. By being told what to eat, and what not, to eat, I am clearly changing not just my weight, but the health of my body as well.

So my diet journey continues. I am looking forward to seeing how I do on July 7th (our next appointment).

Oh, BTW, Carolyn lost 12 pounds! Once again, great results!

So I decided not to go to the grocery store last night. Instead, I found some chicken breasts in the freezer, and decided to barbeque. So, I barbequed 2 breasts, then I cut them up. One of the breasts, I mixed with some Shiritake noodles and spices for a quick little sudo stir fry. The other I put some chili lime splash on and mixed with some mixed greens. Both meals were really good, and I felt quite spiffy being all self sufficient.

However, I once again felt pretty drained. I’m wondering if it’s because I’ve spent the last 3 years having really big, heavy meals and then not eating too much throughout the night. I guess monkeying with my system has some down sides. But I still feel better, and I’m glad I didn’t cheat.

One thing I’ve noticed though, is I think I need to work on getting more fibre. I’m finding my stomach got really queesy eating just the chicken, but felt a lot better after I ate one of the high fibre cookies we’re allowed. I’ll have to work towards a fix.

We just got back from the Low Carb Grocery store. We’ve got lots of goodies we’re going to try, so hopefully this last remaining week of phase 1 won’t seem as painful.

So I did feel pretty rough last night. Mind you, Carolyn, the boys and I had spent the day at the beach and I only crammed about 2 hours of good sleep in.

While two hours might have gotten me through the night, the kids had me out of bed at 6:00am in the morning, and I had stayed up until 1:00am working on Carolyn’s website. So I think I was over tired. I got a solid 6 hours of sleep during the day today, so we’ll see how my night shapes up tonight. It’s going to be a little rough. We’ve worked through most of the food we had prepared and Carolyn’s left the house with the kids to go to a Doctor’s appointment in Brampton. This means I’m sitting here with $20 in my pocket and nothing readily available for dinner. Do I try and make something, or trust myself to go to the grocery store and try and buy something I can eat? Admittedly, the temptation to just go through a drive-thru is burning at my insides, but I’m doing my best to quash the desire. I swore I would not cheat again for the remainder of this two week phase. It’s hard when you work this damned shift work. You have to turn your nights into days and vice-versa and then on the flip of a coin switch them back again. Not the easiest when you’re trying to stick to a rigid diet regime. Last night was tortuous, the crew at work ordered from a BBQ place that I really enjoy. The smell was damn near overwhelming. I had told them all I was on a diet and I couldn’t eat any of it, but that didn’t stop some from poking a bit of fun and offering it to me. But I was strong. God help me, I was strong.

So I need to wrap this up and figure out what the hell I’m going to take for food tonight. There’s still some of the soup that we’re allowed to eat, but after three days of it, I’m pretty sick of the stuff. I’ll let you know tomorrow how well (or bad) I did.

So on Sunday I cheated.

I’d been really good with the diet for several days, and I admit, I was craving french fries like nobody’s business. So on Sunday, we headed out for a trip to Markham. Ironically, it was to visit a low carb grocery store to pick up food that we’re allowed on the diet. Now, we didn’t plan things very well. We left just before lunch, so neither the kids nor ourselves had eaten anything. By the time we were finished at the grocery store, we were starved. We ended up at a chip wagon and I got an order of fries and a hot dog. This has often been one of my favourite meals.

I started eating, and I won’t lie, it was heavenly! Every bite felt as though I was a starving man sitting down at my first buffet. But then a shocking reality crashed down on me. I felt horrible. Not guilt, an actual physical sense of sluggishness, bloating, and discomfort. I suddenly realised that I had been feeding myself meals like that virtually every day! It suddenly made such perfect sense to me as to why I have become so fat! Needless to say, this cheat renewed my resolve. I haven’t been tempted to cheat at all within the past two days, and I have to admit, I did notice a huge energy change at work. Usually around 3pm, I’m ready for a nap. But the past two days, I never once had that dragged down feeling. I’m really looking forward to tonight to see if there’s any change in how I feel during a night shift. I’m hoping so, ’cause I’m no fan of the crappy, sluggish feeling I get in the wee hours of the morning. I’ll let you know.

So in all, I see the diet as a positive thing. I think I’ve lost a little weight, but our scale seems to be a bit on the unreliable side. We’ll know for sure when I get weighed in on June 24th.

Well, I’ve been on this diet since Thursday (we didn’t count Wednesday night ’cause we had just found out what we were doing and had no food).

Essentially, it’s a low carb, low cal, low sodium, diet. It lasts for two weeks, and then we get to expand our menu for the bulk of our weight loss. This two weeks is essentially to shock our system to the point where it starts to burn the stored up fats. It hasn’t been easy.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve craved pizza or McDonalds so much in my life! And it’s only been three days! Oh well, I’ve convinced myself that we will persevere. I don’t want to be this heavy, I don’t want to feel worn out and tired for the rest of my life. Not to mention I have some cool shirts that I’d like to wear, but won’t because they’re too tight and reveal too much of the flab.

Oddly, I weighed myself yesterday, and the scale said I was down 9 pounds. I don’t think that’s possible, so we’ll probably check the batteries and see if the thing is working right. Oh well, time will tell. We have our follow up appointment on Wednesday, June 24th. I’ll check in with the diet progress then.

So I had my physical last Tuesday. I mentioned that I was concerned about my health in a previous post. I also mentioned that I had a bit of weight that I should lose. So, I went to my doctor and had my physical. My blood pressure is good, but he did a whack of blood tests. Carolyn went in after me and asked about weight loss. He referred her to a physician out of Richmond Hill that is a metabolic specialist and has three clinics in which he helps people lose weight. You can only get in if your health warrants it and you’re referred by a doctor (so it’s covered by OHIP, Yeah!).

Anyway, they called yesterday afternoon to book Carolyn’s appointment. Then, fifteen minutes later, they called to book mine. Turns out that between the health issues I told my doctor I thought might be weight related and my blood work, my doctor felt I should be referred as well. So I’m officially going on a diet tailor made for me, as opposed to just loosely following Carolyn’s; which had been my plan.

So my appointment is next Wednesday. I’ll let you know how that goes. They say their goal is for you to lose an average of two pounds a week or approximately ten pounds a month. That would mean I’ll be at my ideal weight in five months! How cool would that be?! Say buh-bye to the man boobs and extended gut!

The clinic we’re going to is run by Dr. Poon. You can find out more about his diet at his website.