There was no change in exercise. I have have a pretty severe case of arthritis from being thrown from a car that rolled over in a curve at over 100mph in 1974. I broke so many bones that my body got over active on making calcium to heal – and its been leaching in my joints and back vertebrae causing spurs, ever since. That said, I’d gotten pretty lazy and as I loss weight I got more active and did more physical work.
I started with the Weight Watchers app on my iPhone – for $20 MO. Basically I was given 38 points a day to achieve the goal of 70 pounds loss in 365 days. Every food you eat is assigned a number of points and you religiously log everything you eat and drink into the phone. You add your weigh in once a week and it tracks you.
After about three months, I figured out what I could and couldn’t eat without logging it, so the cheap bastard that I am, I cancelled the app and watched what I ate, and weighed myself daily. You’re not suppose to do that, but if I gained a little weight mid week – I’d turn up the wick. About 10 members of my family also went on diets – and we compared weight loss on a Friday weigh in.
Bad things I absolutely didn’t eat the entire year were:
- 0 Breads
- 0 Pasta
- 0 Dairy – no milk, butter sour cream, cheese, cream cheese…
- 0 fast food (not a single slice of pizza, chicken wing or sub – all of which I love)
- 0 Hard Liquor – I love Bourbon on the rocks, boy do I love it!
- 0 Candy
- 0 Breakfast cereal
- 0 Fruit juices
- I stayed out of restaurants as they use butter and oil on everything. Their mission is to make it taste great – and lie to you on how low cal and fat it is
Bad things I ate/drank very little of included:
- Beer – I went from about 20 good tasting beers (Shiner Bock it Guiness Stout) a week to about 3 light beers. I like Lone Star Light or Shiner Blonde in long necks best
- Potatoes – very little and only grilled or baked
Good things I ate a lot of:
- 2-3 scrambled eggs for breakfast
- 1 pouch of White solid tuna with a little lite mayo, onions, celery for lunch on most days
- Grilled Skinless Chicken breasts Grilled Pork chops with all fat cut off
- Grilled Salmon, Tuna and shrimp
- Grilled 97/3% beef burgers with onions
- Grilled vegetables (carrots, squash, snow peas, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, brussels sprouts, egg plant, cabbage streaks…)
- Salads with Uber low cal dressings
- Grilled apples
- Little Cutie Oranges, grapes and sugar free popsicles for snacks
I have a real nice outdoor kitchen and grill dinner almost every evening. Since I live in south Texas that includes December through February. I grill my vegetables one of two ways. Either spray a little I Can’t believe its butter and grill in foil, or shake in a gallon baggie with a tablespoon of oil oil and cook open in a stainless steel basket.
The egg thing surprised me, but you really need the protean from the eggs, fish and meats. You want to stay away from the fats in milk, butter, butter, cheese, fried foods, fast foods, restaurant foods, and fast foods. You want to stay away from the carbs in bread, potatoes, pasta, cereals, wheat, tortillas, salty snacks… You want to stay away from all sugars -especially in fruit juices. Even Vegetable juices aren’t good. Its ok to eat an apple, but not drink apple juice. Same with tomato, grape, orange, pineapple… the fruit is OK because of the fiber offsetting the calories – but the juices are a no no.
I drink a lot of water. I bought a water cooler for my shop and living room – and always carry a thermo cup. It helps with the sense of feeling full and flushes out the bad stuff.
Now there is a couple secret spices that I use a lot. Once a week I’ll peel and slice a bag of apples, sprinkle with Vietnamese Cinnamon – wrap in foil and grill on the top rack for about 30 minutes. I’ll put in a covered glass bowl and chill in the fridge and it makes about six servings. On meats, fish and Chicken – I use the Hell out of Chef Paul’s Blacken Magic. And the #1 Spice for dieting it Bagel Everything Seasoning. I love ET (everything=dried onion & garlic, poppy and sesame seeds) Bagels toasted twice with cream cheese. However, its been over two years since I had one. That said, I found on Amazon where I can buy 5 pounds (about a gallon jug size) – and I put spoonful’s of that shit on everything, In my tuna, on my eggs, on my grilled vegetables – just about everything. I makes it all take better. I’ll go through the jug in two months.
In 2019, I never cheated. In 2020 I backslid a little – at times – and gained 14 pounds back. I told myself I’d take a year off of the diet and maintain – but I backslid a little at times. 2021 is Diet II. I’d like to drop another 40 pounds this year, and then 2022 maintain that weight for a year before Diet III to take another swing at another 25 pounds.
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
