Cutting way back on the nuts is making a difference I think, I'm losing again...slowly. Now it's a matter of time, I just have to wait it out patiently again.

If I can just maintain the healthy diet that I enjoy I'll be fine.

I'm no dietary expert but I thought nuts were mostly all protein and very little carbs?

Nope, nuts are fat and carb, with some valuable micronutritients.

Nuts are also high in calories.

PM, see my nut pic on page 3 (from my viewing), a snack bag size or small glass bowl of mixed nuts is 570 cal. I was snacking on approximately 2 1/2 bags (or bowls) throughout each day, I've cut back to only one.

Also only one (vs. two) Brazil nut, which I now understand is all that's needed for prostate health.

What I do now is eat one bag of nuts per day, but I pace myself and eat a smaller bowl (taken from the bag) after lunch. Also, anytime I get a little hungry between meals/snacks, instead of reaching for a handful of nuts I eat a heaping teaspoon of cottage cheese (which I love) and it satisfies me.

A lot of the recipes I like to use are here:
http://paleoleap.com

What I usually tell people is to start with a 30 day clean diet such as this:
http://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/

(No I am not shilling for these people, just get the dietary info you need, no need to sign up for anything)

And then introduce foods if you like and see how you feel, etc. My advice is if you can't handle 30 days of eating clean, then how serious are you really about your long term health?

This holiday season I had some chocolate (Mmmm ferrero) a bit too much to drink, a few naughty food items. Man am I ever GRUMPY as all hell now! Sugar really is like a drug.

Also, watching your sugar intake? If you're eating bread, and lots of carbs, that's still glucose, it's essentially the same thing. I don't do the gluten free #%&*$#, who knows what's in that anyway.

To answer the question about carbs, we actually do eat carbs (we as in my family) lots of sweet potatoes, even the odd *gasp* white potato here and there. Key thing is, we still make everything from scratch. I know exactly what ingredients I use, there's no mystery there. I make my own mayo, (takes 1 minute and tastes awesome) ketchup, whatever.

The reason I've stuck with it, is that it works. If you're a fatass, the fat will disappear. It's not some weight watchers #%&*$#, where you may lose a pound a week or what not. Took me 3 months to drop 50lb. It was more like 65, but people just don't believe me so I just say 50.

Downsides? I haven't had a beer in years. No chips, no chocolate bars, no soda, no juice, no bread, no cake, no cookies, no nothing. However I eat lots of seafood, bacon & steak and good veggies to make up for it

Thanks for those tips Duchess. As for the sugar aspect I could cut it out for the most part except for the sugar I use for my coffee.

Oh yeah and my wife is addicted to those Ferrero Rocher chocolates. I just recently found out that they're made in Canada.

Yeah those things are ridiculously tasty. I didn't know they were Canadian made :p

I try to stay off of bread, some crappy Cane's chicken sandwich and a half-slice with BBQ takeout (I gave the other half to the birds in the backyard) is all I've eaten recently.

The rest of the "Downside?" list I pretty much stay away from, except for one or two hard drinks on a formal "date night" to unwind/buzz a bit, usually no more than twice a month.



When we lost the bulk of our weight in 2008/09, we did it slowly (averaging ~1 lbs./week) because we wanted to minimize any loose skin. We also eat lots of healthy fats (e.g. avocado) and drink lots of water, and of course work out with weights which minimizes and even eliminates loose skin with weight loss.

She has none so far (~10 lbs. to go), but I (lots more to go) may end up with a little on the sides and the bottom of my ass (I was a lot heavier, even percentage-wise). I won't know until I get there.

Guys, I'm feeling like I'm going on a little too much about this so I'm going to take a breather, become more of a lurker for a while.

It's just that at 48, we (and this is a team effort) being way past our 'expiration date' (see "Logan's Run"...lol) are in a place that we've never been before (treadmills and weights are NOT us, believe me!). We can't go back and fix the past (e.g. feet damage) or even completely make up for it (quality time lost), but we can learn from it, continue to educate ourselves about food and fitness and press forward.

That's the way you have to look at it I think, wherever you are in life and fitness, try to make some small improvements every day and just give it time.

MarkG, don't give up. I don't think running is that great an activity because it can hurt the hell out of your legs if you have an injury or if your form is bad. But there are tons of other cardio exercises you can do. Don't quit because of "I'm too old", that's the worst!

Try doing squats, or stair climbing, much lower impact than running. Cycling or a good quality stationary bike is also good.

At the beginning of 2014 I was 83 or 84kg (Around 185lbs, far too heavy for my height) and a BMI of probably around 27 or so. By autumn 2014 I was 60kg with a good BMI, a body fat of around 15% and was dripping with muscle! Now I am a few KG heavier due to not wanting to freeze my arse off in the frigid winter air, but I am sure to keep working out 2-4 times per week and dropping those KG will be quite easy once the weather gets warm enough.

How I lost 23kg in 6 months: I cut carbs. All carbs. No sugar, no alcohol, nothin. Just lots of protein, fats, oils, vegetables (with no carbs). And........exercise! Every day - weight lifting. At first I did a dumbell workout twice per week, then upped to three times per week. After I got used to working out three times a week, I just decided to start doing it every day since I got a rush from doing the workout. If you're not feeling that rush, your workouts are probably not hard enough, or maybe they're too hard.

I lost around 10kg in the first few weeks just from changing my diet. Around 3kg was water weight but the rest was actual fat loss. The remaining 13kg was a combination of diet and exercise.

I was doing 30-60mins of weights per day every day, plus 100 squats every day, or some other form of cardio like 300 jumping jacks, 1hour of jogging, etc. every 2 - 3days.

I also did 3 sets of 33 knee-touch sit ups - lie down, extend your arms, bring your feet in so they're touching the ground but your knees are up. sit up til you can touch your knees with your hands. kind of like a crunch
as well as 3 sets of 33 leg raises - lie down with your hands at your sides, then slowly lift your legs without bending them til your toes point straight up, then lower them again slowly. this really burns your lower abs/"triangle zone", most people can't even do 10 in the beginning - I sure couldn't!

I am not sure losing weight slowly really prevents loose skin, I have lost it quickly AND slowly and either way, skin I built in my fat days is there unless I go the surgery route..

Hard to tell from the photos but check the face from 2013 or 2014 compared to now, much slimmer methinks, and lots of chest muscle going on.

red hair days, around 2013 or 2014. fat face. yuk.


different angle, roughly same time period, late 2013 or early 2014. fat face, fat body, no muscle in the arms.


current (forgive the machete, had just finished clearing some jungle and was rather pumped up about it)


last august

Awesome, VF9_Longbow! I love how international this board is, in general we Americans must seem a little on the larger size to some of you...lol. Good job man!

Not to worry though, I'm not giving up at all. Yes, my very flat feet are permanently damaged by years of gout attacks and heel spurs (I have an x-ray somewhere, nasty looking...when I find it I'll post it) but it's not debilitating. I can run a cushioned treadmill without a problem, I'm just not sure yet if I'll ever be able to complete a 5k run (although *walking* all day on pavement is no problem). I know this, the lighter I am the better my feet feel at the end of the day.

No, what I meant to say is that I feel like I might be coming off as being full of myself sometimes (including this post).

Poor health can be a powerful catalyst to getting started, especially when you're scared (as we've both been). My weight loss actually began at 265+ lbs. (120.2 kg) and with some serious dental issues (festering over decades), wife was 140 lbs. (63.5 kg) on a tiny frame. We didn't start recording our weights on that chart until my 41st birthday, when it was clear I might actually succeed this time.

I'm pushing hard now for a makeover (makeup and eye stuff, nothing medical), teeth whitening (we're both recently out of braces), tight jeans and boots, all new wardrobe for both of us (no more shopping in 20+ year-old sweat pants and t-shirts). And sometimes I feel like a foolish old man in doing so, trying to relive his-and-hers youth (but in a better way).

At what point does health cross into vanity? At what age should it no longer matter? I'm not suggesting looks shouldn't matter at all with age, but when you're past your prime and neither of you were ever model material to begin with.

Is it foolish to try and reinvent yourself (and yours) just prior to AARP membership?

That's about where I'm at right now and it's uncharted territory, confusing and sometimes gets me into trouble (probably being a little too pushy about it).

Although we were still...growing, this was my wife and I at 35 years old (13 years ago) and then almost 13 years later, the picture we took on Saturday (although I guess I'm kinda cheating standing behind her).

you're never too old for vanity, if you can't have fun and enjoy looking better than the average schmoe what's the point in keeping fit at all? live it up, enjoy looking good and being thinner, and the closer you get to your target weight the better and better you feel about yourself. and people around you will notice your progress too.

just never take a break from your diet and exercise, coz once you get out of the groove, it's hard to get back in (been there)

you're looking good, don't hide behind the wife though :P

MarkG,

Do what makes you happy! I'm not a terribly vain person, but I've been wearing the same wardrobe since 1995, maybe i should make a change too.

If I can get back to my college-era weight (200 lbs) I will be more than happy.

Thanks, all.

My wife had gum treatment recently, where they scrape the roof of your mouth for tissue to fill in a couple of receded areas. There are a couple ways of doing this procedure, one takes longer and is more expensive (using donar tissue, IIRC) but supposedly gives a perfect look.

She chose the normal procedure, who's going to be taking hi-res photos of her mouth? Lol. Looks perfect to me anyway, I wouldn't know the difference.

That procedure was necessary, this one is not...

A professional dentist office teeth whitening would require a couple of her front tooth exterior fillings be drilled out and replaced with new fillings at a lighter shade to match the whitening. The alternative is not nearly as white but doesn't require any dental work.

My comment was, "The hell if I would sit in that chair and have something drilled on that wasn't absolutely necessary!" She's not as apprehensive about dental work but agreed, at our age and for who we are, this would be too much.

Those are extremes, I don't want to become obsessive with it, just want to get spiffy'd up with a little bit of style. I can go to a concert or to the mall and know it when I see it (men and women), I (we) just don't know how to go about getting a little of that for us, it's not how we were brought up or how we've ever lived (you've seen the pics ).

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The healthy diet and exercise are going to be with us for the rest of our lives, we'd be too afraid to quit now. For the most part, our lifestyle is about putting up the best blood lab numbers we can plus cardiology tests she has done, besides the annual echo is an occasional nuclear dye test.

I thought I saw a pic of you and you weren't that big at all. Or was that Jedi?

Mark, don't feel foolish. There are a few VERY good looking, well dressed and stylish guys around my usual places closing in on 50. That's not "life is over" territory. Not by coincidence they usually have with them very good looking younger or just slightly younger womenfolk - not that I'm suggesting a swap, mind you

Decent wardrobe is not more expensive than bad looking wardrobe, it's more a matter of caring a little. Why take the lesser option for the same price?

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Very happy pig right now myself - third successive day under 80KG on the scale. If I can do a week, no matter what I ate or drank the day before (always measure in the morning) then I officially consider my "diet" over. Oh, and I met a really nice girl yesterday. That might just fit

It's already gotten thrown back at me, "You want *me* to get all styled up, but what about *you*"?! D'oh! I fear when we make a NYC trip later this year that she's going to want to buy me some absurdly expensive shirt like in one of those awful "Sex and the City" episodes! But then, she can be as cheap as I am (also a coupon queen) so maybe not.

Although there is a cool scene with Tom Hanks in "Joe vs. the Volcano" where he drastically changes his image in a single day - but on someone else's credit card! Now *that* would be nice!

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80 kg = 176 lbs., damn RSColonel_131st, you're doing good! If you don't mind me asking, what's the waist size?

I've noticed that (as someone else has mentioned) a single bad day can seem to do a lot of damage. However, I believe sometimes it's the abundance of salt that bloats you (water retention), so while it may seem the next day that you gained weight, most of the weight will drop off the day or so after.

There are a lot of younger women into 80's style these days, you know...

Size 32 Waist for Jeans. More to the point at 182cm I should be closing in on 15% or less body fat which is really pretty decent for a "home gym and loves burger king" guy. And the wonderful thing is that somehow the 1800kcal daily average isn't even hard to maintain, so I'll drop a bit further still.

Need to come up with additional exercises or bigger weights. I've a free test day at a Gym which seems the logical next step... but I just don't like the environment, driving overhead and time wasted...

Heh, 32 waist. I haven't been that size since junior high school.