Beef--it's what NOT for dinner

A month or so ago, the UAW gym I go to at lunch everyday announced they would be holding a local "Biggest Loser" challenge to see who could lose the most weight in three months (the contest runs through mid-April). It cost $20 to join the competition, but there would be weekly drawings for prizes (ranging from Subway gift cards to free months of membership at the gym) and a cash grand prize for whoever lost the most (as a percentage of their starting weight).

So I decided that this was as good a chance as any to get motivated and really start dropping off the pounds I've been needing to for a couple years now. So I paid my $20, had my initial weigh-in, and have been plugging hard at it for the last 4 weeks.

Now I've been working out 5 times a week during my lunch break since about July of last year, and I lost 20 lbs. in the first 4 or 5 months, so I was really happy early on. However, I kind of hit a rut where, even though I was still working out every weekday, I wasn't hardly losing any more weight. But I kept plugging along, hoping to reach the edge of the plateau at some point.

Once this Biggest Loser challenge started, though, I was immediately determined to do whatever it took to start dropping off the weight again. So--I obviously had gotten my activity level up WAY above where it previously was. What could I be missing? Of course, I knew the answer, painful as it was to me to face. I was going to have to cut back on the food.

You have to understand: I loves me some food. In fact, I can readily recognize that eating was a standard coping mechanism I've used for years. I neither drink nor smoke nor use drugs, but it's fairly obvious to me that I had grown heavily dependent on the psychological boost that eating food (particularly BAD food) provides. And it was that dependency that was keeping me from continuing progress towards my weight loss goals. I wasn't about to concede defeat in the contest, so changes had to be made.

First off, I had to get my portion sizes down. My wife is a wonderful, healthy cook who has, over the last 5 years of our marriage, become an expert at cooking healthy things that I actually love to eat. Ground Turkey Meatloaf, Baked Lean Pork Chops, Baked BBQ Chicken Breast, Light Chicken Fettucine Alfredo Casserole... she's worked miracles with my diet (which prior to our marriage consisted largely of Taco Bell, Chinese take-out, and Chef Boyardee). In fact, despite my weight, my cholesterol has been consistently excellent for the past few years--hovering between 170 and 180. Unfortunately, no matter how healthy the meals she cooked were, the amount of said meals I would eat were not exactly "healthy portions". I'd often go back for a full round of seconds, and sometimes even thirds.

This was obviously offsetting any gains I was making at the gym. So I've been really limiting myself while eating meals (particularly dinner), seldom going back for second portions and rarely eating dessert. I have compromised in that I let myself have a small snack, such as some cold cereal, a couple hours after dinner so that I don't get totally burned out. The biggest challenege still remains eating Sunday dinner at my in-laws, though. My mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law are fantastic cooks and seem to have the unfortunate knack of always cooking food that I find absolutely delicious. So it's an uphill struggle every time we pull into their driveway, but I've done pretty good the past few weeks, even though there is still much room for improvement.

Fortunately, I can happily report that, over the past three weigh-ins, I've lost a total of 15 lbs., which currently has me in the lead in our weight loss challenge. I've still got two more months to go, and it's rough going some days. But whether or not I win, I'm really excited to finally be dropping my weight at an encouraging pace. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain the momentum and in a couple more months I'll have some positive news to report about the contest.

In the meantime, though, there's going to be some difficult times ahead. Times when I drive by Sonic with the window down. Times when I watch a Taco Bell commercial and see the tantalizing images of that delicious Grilled-Stuft Burrito. But--with Shawna and God's help, I'll be strong, power through, and Biggest-Lose my way to victory. :)