I waited a year to take this screen shot….

One year ago I made a decision.

A decision to do something that, in the past, I truly believed was impossible for me to do.

And yet here I am.

As I outlined in The 80% Solution, one year ago I decided to lose weight. For a variety of reasons outlined in that post, I decided to do something.

This screenshot represents the result:

One Year's Worth

The start of that scale is 250lbs. I weighed in this morning at 193lbs after crossing the 200lb “goal line” back in September. And I crossed it exactly once.

It’s been … weird.

I feel the same. Seriously, I don’t feel “lighter” or more energetic than before, which is something that surprises me as well as everyone who seems to expect it of me.

I’ve been consciously working on changing my diet – slowly. The biggest change, perhaps, is that I’m actively seeking out vegetables that I can either endure or hide. (“Love” is apparently an impractical goal.) Spinach is an easy thing to hide in just about anything, the winter squash family is becoming quite interesting (spaghetti, butternut and acorn), as is roasting things like green beans, fresh asparagus and other things. Steaming cauliflower works. My tastes – or my tolerances – seem to be changing somewhat.

My exercise regimen hasn’t changed much at all. I try to hit the elliptical 4-5 times a week for 45 minutes at a shot. But I’ve been doing that for years.

I find I have to remain constantly vigilant. I’m still tracking my calories – mostly. I’d love to eat more, and more poorly, but this forces awareness and a type of mindfulness about what I eat that I think is critical to long term success.

We’ll talk again on September 21 – the one year anniversary of crossing the goal line.

11 thoughts on “I waited a year to take this screen shot….”

  1. Congratulations! Losing weight is really, really hard because you have multiple chances each day to choose pleasure over plan but you are a determined person and I can imagine you just had enough and never looked back. May I be as determined as you have been.
    Oh yeah, btw, vegetables are delicious. 🙂

  2. Congrats Leo, that’s amazing progress! I know from experience how hard it is to find palatable vegetables. Keep at it, you’ll find ones you like.

    Also, if you ever want to break from the elliptical, can I suggest fitnessblender.com? They are a husband/wife team that shoot fitness videos out of their garage; they have tons of free workouts that you can search by difficulty, and have minimal equipment required. They are also about as friendly and unpretentious of people as you’ll ever meet (they lose count of their reps often, and laugh at themselves). And I think they’re located in your neck of the woods. 🙂

    Thanks for the service you provide on ask-leo.com. Good luck on your health and wellness journey.

  3. Having weighed a great deal more than your highest at one point in my life, I must give you congrats on taking control of your health. You are too important to too many people to go out due to complications from weight. And while you may not feel any different, physically not only did you drop a good 10-15 years in appearance, you’ve probably added at LEAST that to your Life Span. Yeah, it’s a daily struggle but I look at it like this: as long as I can keep drinking my coffee, then like Donna Summer said… “I will surVIVE!”

  4. Woo-Hoo, congrats Leo! It is a hard battle my friend.

    Started the same process back for my wedding in 2004. Needed to shed a few pounds, and decided that a simple progress chart is a good way of looking at what you’ve done over a period of time. Since then, I’m in iteration number 10 or 11 of my chart. I’ll do it for 6 months, then get a couple “bad” weeks in a row, and then totally lose interest in it. Guess it works both ways, lol.

  6. Hi.
    While my reasons differ, in that a new heart valve and warfarin are the cause of my diet changes, I too have struggled with different ‘veggie-camouflage’.
    A favorite that works well for me is french cut green beans. I put half a can in saimin, for dinner, a few days a week. Chopped doesn’t work, I think because the chunks are easier to taste.
    Ramen noodles, green beans, tuna, turmeric, nonfat ranch dressing. Drain the cooked noodles, mix everything and eat. Use chopsticks.

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