Discussion Board

Today I bought a pair of pants off the shelf at Walmart. They were the largest I could find, and they don't fit. Yet!! I have not bought a pair of pants in a store in 15 years! I've had them custom made because of my ever increasing size. I can cram myself into these pants and even zip them up, but it'll probably be 30-40 more pounds before I can wear them. I'm excited! Can hardly wait.

-Norm

That is way cool, Norm. Congratulations, that is a huge accomplishment.

You will be fitting into those jeans in no time!!

I actually bought a pair in a smaller size, hoping to be in them within a few weeks! I just couldn't bring myself to buy a pair that actually fit perfect, since I am losing weight. I can hardly wait til these fit though as my others one are not only baggy but also really old!!

Great story Norm. You are an inspiration and wonderful proof that Dr. McDougall knows what he's talking about.

Weigh-In Update: 04/02/12

The scale reports that I've lost another 5 pounds in the past two weeks, the same as for the two weeks prior, for a total of 10 pounds in the past month. This is a bit less than my goal of 1% per week, but still puts me slightly ahead of that 1%-per-week goal as measured from February 8th when I first decided on that goal.
========================================
A LOT has been happening in my life lately that I've not journaled or blogged about. I've been busy. Spring is here and there is much to do and I'm trying to do it and I've been keeping myself busy. As such, I have not done much exercise. I haven't ridden my trike in a week and a half, and haven't walked in several days and the few days before that hadn't done my usual distances. I've also been on "autopilot" again, as far as diet is concerned.
In addition to all this, last Friday was a friends 50th birthday party and I went overboard... I ate far more than I should have and consumed a glass of wine and several ounces of bourbon.
Yet I still lost 5 pounds! This way of life is incredible, and simply amazes me!
=======================================
In other news, a look at my weight ticker will show two tidbits of information.... The first is that I've hit the 150 pounds mark. The second, that I'm now over halfway to my goal weight. The latter is more significant to me than I thought it would be... It is like I stepped through a door and am in an entirely new place. I'm closer to my goal than I am to my starting point! That feels GREAT!!!
=======================================
Now that the first 3 months of 2012 are behind us, it's time to revisit my New Years Resolutions. I had two. They were:

1. To live and eat so that every time I step on the scale in 2012 I'd weigh less than the time before.
2. To finish walking 1000 miles by the end of 2012.

So far, so good! I am on pace to finish 1000 miles, and I've weighed less every time I step on the scale. Actually, this has been true since October of 2010, but it wasn't until February of 2011 that I really started to make changes, so I figure I have about 60 weeks of continuous weight loss. People comment to me all the time that I must be very proud of myself for what I've accomplished so far, and for the most part I'm more pleased than proud, but I admit, I am proud of having 60 weeks of continuous uninterrupted weight loss! To be honest, I'd be just as proud of that fact even if I had only lost 25 or 50 pounds in that time period. The knowledge that I've learned how to have long-term success with weight loss that I can carry with me into the future is something that makes me proud!! And it is something I wish to continue. Nothing would make me prouder than to reach my target weight with steady, continuous, uninterrupted weight loss!
Can I do it? I believe I can!! Will I do it? I certainly have every motivation to try!! It is sure to get harder to maintain as I get lighter and lighter, but that will only give me more motivation to try harder! Onward!!

-Norm

YAY, Norm! I was waiting for you to post. Hope things keep going well.

Awesome job Norm! Congratulations on hitting the 50% mark! I like autopilot mode, this way of eating just seems to get easier and easier, and the results seem to get better and better.

Awesome. Congratulations for staying on track.

This is all such good news!

Congratulations on getting to the other side of the midpoint

Congratulations on reaching a significant weight loss milestone. That's quite the accomplishment.

Keep on trucking!

We'll be waiting to hear when you take your final step!

Congrats Norm your doing fantastic. HUGS!!!

Norm, you are doing great. I see we have the same 1000 mile walking goal and are about in the same place. My current goal is 30 miles a week working up to 50 by the end of summer. Now if the weather would start to cooperate....
Kate

Dissolution, yes, autopilot isn't a bad place to be once you've simplified your eating to be where you need to be!

nomikins, Kris, JennieZ, nicoles and VegSexy, thank you for your kind comments!!

Rosey, I see you'll be hitting the 150 pound mark real soon too!! I hope you plan to celebrate, as it's a big accomplishment!

Katydid, I am always honored when one of my McDougall Hero's comments on my journal! Your story inspires me and I follow your journal religiously. I am glad your walking is doing so well! I am going to be backing off my walking some (details in next post), but believe I will still finish my 1000 miles by the end of the year!

-Norm

Me, Myself, and Arthritis. (as posted on my blog)

Things have been going great on my weight loss journey!! I've lost 154 pounds! I've regained a lot of my health! I have more mobility, stamina, and energy! I look forward to the day where I'm at a normal weight. I look forward to being able to work again. I look forward to being NORMAL again.
And in that desire to be "normal" I've been ignoring a few things, the most important being that constant crunch crunch in my right hip when I walk. The snap, crackle, and pop in my right knee is a close second. Third and fourth would be the constant grinding in my right shoulder and the occasional but painful pop in my left knee.
I have arthritis!! Not just all that I listed above, but I also have ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis of the spine. Diet can work wonders with arthritis. The low-fat vegetarian diet I follow can arrest the progression of inflammatory arthritis. This means that I can keep my anklyosing spondylitis from progressing and causing more damage to my spine. Indeed, my back is doing much better. I remember just a couple years ago I'd be so stiff in the morning that I'd have to sit on the edge of the bed for several minutes before standing up, and even then I needed a cane in each hand. I needed those two canes for the first 10-15 minutes I was up before I could walk without them. Then it'd be another hour before I was able to get dressed. Now, I wake up, usually get dressed immediately including putting on my shoes, and stand up without any help at all. I'm still a bit stiff for a few minutes but sometimes I'll head straight out the door and go for a walk. I don't even know where my canes are!! But the damage that is already done to my spine, I'll have to live with.
My diet will also help the degenerative arthritis in my knees, hip, and shoulder from getting worse. That is because it was my poor diet that contributed to those in the first place. But what my diet can't do, is repair the damage already done. And what's more, my diet can't keep me from further damaging those joints by overworking them in their already damaged state.
All this comes to mind because I had a doctors appointment yesterday with my rheumatologist. He was happy with the state of my ankylosing spondylitis but said there wasn't much he could do about the rest other than prescribe me anti-inflammatories, which I don't want to take.
So what's a fellow to do? As I lose more and more weight there will be less and less strain on my hips and knees. That will be a good thing!! But in the mean time, I have to slow down and do less. If I walk slower and slightly favor my right side there is little to no crunching in my hip or snap, crackle and pop in my knee. This will mean less walking. I should be able to continue my trike riding, as doing so doesn't seem to bother my hip or knees, though it does tend to mildly bother my back.
I don't want anyone to take all of this as me whining. I'm not. Just talking out loud about the struggle to find the balance between doing enough, and doing too much. I do, after all, need to keep my body and those joints functional for at least another 30-35 years!!

-Norm

I'm so there with you on the arthritis I can't repair it either but I am doing so much better as I lose the weight. I am also doing better strangely by going barefoot most the time. Think that's because we tend to heel strike when we are wearing shoes because they are cushioned and we don't do that when we are barefoot.

As for almost being to 150lbs lost I'm LOVING that fact. I plan on getting the composting stuff I've been wanting for my reward for that actually. I know it sounds like a weird reward but I'm enjoying doing things for my garden.

So many things are better with the weight loss! My ability to walk longer, further, and faster have been one of them. Unfortunately, that is exactly what has brought the arthritis in my hip and knee to my attention. It's not a new problem. I've been ignoring it for a while, thinking that as I lose more weight it'll bother me less. But it's been bothering me more and more. Today I was very much aware of what my hip was doing. I did some work outside, building boxes to plant potatoes in. No problem. I mowed my dad's yard, only a slight problem. Had to go a bit slower than I would have otherwise to keep the hip from "crunch crunch". This evening I did some walking. I started off intending to walk a mile, planning on walking as slow as needed, but as I neared the end of my first lap (1/2 mile) I couldn't get the hip to not crunch even going at a snails pace, so took that as a cue to stop there. After an hour or so I went back out and did another half mile, this time using a cane, which I had to go find, as I haven't used it in a long time. That worked well. I walked even slower than I set out at the first time, but I made it almost the whole way through the 1/2 mile loop before it started to go wonky, and slowing down further helped.
I think I might try using the cane for a while. Using it makes me walk and step deliberately, and go slower.
I also paid attention to pain today, and was surprised to realize that my hip hurts! This may come as a surprise to many people... that I could have pain I didn't even realize I had... but for so long I have been in a lot of pain and EVERYTHING hurt no matter what I did or didn't do, and you just get to a point where you ignore it unless it's so excruciating you can't tune it out. My overall levels of pain are so much less than they used to be that I usually don't even think about it, I'm just so glad to be able to function so much better. And so it was that ignoring this has been so easy for me to do. It really only hurts a little, and the "crunch crunch" in my hip doesn't really hurt, it's more of an annoyance. But it's getting worse, and I have to adjust my activity accordingly. I seem to be able to do the things I want to do, with the exception of walking past a certain pace. So if slowing down my walking is what I need to do... it's what I'll do.
It's not a weird reward at all!! Doing the things YOU want to do is the best reward for regaining your health, and if composting stuff for your garden fills the bill then composting stuff it should be!!

-Norm