Are your goals unrealistic?

On April 10, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Health, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

I have been told in the past when discussing my true weight loss goal that I would love to be the same size I was way back when I was still skinny before I gained all of this weight. Peoples responses have always been the same. “And people in hell want ice water.” “You are never going to be the way you were.” or my favorite is “That’s just unrealistic.” Is it unrealistic? Because I don’t think it is.

Saying something is unrealistic is negative thinking, and we all know that it’s all a state of mind. Negative thinking will give you negative results and positive thinking will give you positive results. If you think you can do something, then it is possible.

When I decide to do something, I do it. Like take my weight loss journey for example. I have already lost (officially as of last Saturday) 46lbs, how did I do that? I decided I was going to eat healthy and not snack on junk food. I have been very faithful to my diet (not diet as in the dieting term, but diet as in the food I eat diet). I told myself that I was going to eat healthy and so I am eating healthy.

I used to be 150lbs, so me saying that I want to be 150lbs again is unrealistic, and I only say that because I have packed on at least 20-30lbs of muscle in the gym, but 170-180 is not unrealistic. I will have the thin stomach again and that is my goal.

When I was 12 years old, I wore a size 30/30 jeans, and when I was 26 years old I was still wearing the same size jeans, and then I quit smoking and the size of my jeans changed. The last pair of jeans I bought were a 40/30. That is a shocking number from 30 to 40. But that wasn’t the size of my stomach, that was just the size of my hips. My stomach was actually 50 inches. My stomach is now 44 inches and I expect that it will go back down to 30. I don’t think that is unrealistic.

Positive thinking brings positive results, so don’t let anyone sabotage you with negative thinking by telling you that you can’t do something. You can do whatever you set your mind to. We all can be the way we were if we work hard enough to get back there.

If I can lose 46lbs in 14 weeks, then I am positive that I can be a size 30 again, I just have to keep doing what I am doing and I will be back to the way I was. I ignore negative thinking because I got to where I am by doing it my way, and I will be the one laughing when I am at my goal weight/size.

I have told people what I eat and what I drink and everyone has something negative to say. Like the weight watchers meals aren’t good for you, but in actuality they are. They are low in calorie, they are made with healthy ingredients and they are filling. I was told not to use creamer in my coffee because it’s too fattening and someone even told me that I will never lose weight as long as I use creamer in my coffee. Um… 46lbs in 14 weeks. I beg to differ.

I’ve been told not to drink Crystal Light or put artificial sweetener in my coffee because the sweetener is bad for you because it can make you eat more. Well, I have been using sweetener since I was a teenager because I can’t stand sugar filled drinks. Like I hate Coke and Pepsi, so I will drink Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi instead. Those have artificial sweeteners which is what makes them have 0 calories. I think I have built an immunity to whatever bad effects artificial sweeteners have because I am still alive after more than 25 years of using them. One of the Noom articles said, and people in the Noom forums have said that artificial sweeteners will make you eat more, but I have not experienced that side effect, and I think it’s because I have built up an immunity to that.

I usually ignore negative thinking because I want to stay positive, but that doesn’t mean I have forgotten the negative comments. I just keep saying “46lbs in 14 weeks…” The numbers don’t lie. I have been eating the same way and drinking the same way since January and have lost weight, so I’m just going to keep doing it my way.

Before I tell you the next story, I have to mention that I went to the doctor’s office today and according to their scale I have lost 48lbs…

I got a free lunch bag from Lean Cuisine and it was too feminine for me, so I gave it to our tenants who are a mother and her 2 daughters. Well, the mother told me that she noticed that I had lost a lot of weight and I said yeah, I’ve lost 48lbs and she had this worried look on her face, like she thought I was dying lol. I said oh no it was on purpose and I laughed. I told her what I was doing to lose the weight and then I explained that I had type-2 diabetes and sleep apnea as a result of my weight and that my doctor has been begging me for years to lose the weight. That was a relief to her.

Isn’t it funny how some people see things? Don’t judge a book by its cover. Just because someone looks thinner, doesn’t mean something negative, it could mean they are trying to live a healthier lifestyle, which is what I am doing.

Until my next ranting…

Two thirds of the way there…

On April 2, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Health, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

I am sure people are probably tired of hearing me talk about my weight loss by now, but deal with it lol. I was excited when I lost 28 pounds when I was only 8 weeks in. I am now on week 13 and have lost 43 pounds. It’s just really exciting for me that I am finally losing weight.

Normally I wouldn’t want to blog or brag about something like this because I’m afraid that if I do, I will sabotage myself. That has happened to me in the past. But I am more confident in myself this time around.

In 2004, I lost 40 pounds and I was so excited that I lost that much weight that I was constantly talking about it and focusing on it. The result of that was that I ended up going into a plateau and I couldn’t lose any more weight. I don’t know what happened or why but it discouraged me and instead of losing more weight or even just maintaining my weight, I ended up giving up and I gained more weight. My weight was 172 then. I was so close to my goal and now I think why did I do that to myself? I could have gotten down to my goal weight and been done with it, but I am sure I still would have gone back to my bad eating habits and gained the weight back anyway.

That is not going to happen to me again. I think that if I lost weight and then plateau, even if it lasts for 2 months, I will continue to eat healthy because I think about food differently now and eventually the weight will come off again. But I don’t want to think about that because I want to think about this as positively as I can. If I start thinking negatively, then negative things are going to happen. It’s like Murphy’s Law, if something can go wrong, it will.

I started in January at 264lbs, but when I started using the Noom app, I was 263lbs. I am now 219lbs and this is April. I only have 19 more pounds to go to reach my goal of 200lbs and I have a feeling that I will reach that goal without any problems before June.

The Noom app says that I will be at 200lbs the first week of June, but I have a feeling that it will be the last week of May when I am at my goal weight. If that is true, then that would be an awesome birthday present for me because my birthday is on June 2nd. The image above says August 10th, but that date never changes because that was the original estimation if I lost 2lbs per week from January 5th. The weight graph now says June 7th. It keeps changing every week when I weigh in.

For my birthday I would like to have a slice or 2 of cake, or even at least a cupcake. I know that that’s probably not the best idea, but we had cupcakes on Valentines Day and I didn’t gain any weight. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. You can eat junk food like that if you want to, as long as you eat it in moderation and don’t go overboard and make it a daily habit.

After my birthday, I will continue trying to lose weight until all the fat is gone and I am at my true goal weight. Of course I don’t know what that goal weight is yet because I have built up so many muscles and we all know that muscle weighs more than fat. Before I gained all the weight I was 150lbs so I’m guessing that with all the muscle weight, I should be at 170lbs, but I don’t know that for sure.

Anyway, I have faith in myself that I will get down to my goal weight and I will be a healthy and happy person. Although that is not to say that I’m not healthy and happy now, because I am, but I know that I will be healthier and happier when I am at my goal weight.

So until then…

Just to note what I have noticed about my weight loss. My shirts were starting to get tight on me somewhere around February of 2012, so we went to Sears and bought some new ones. The new ones had pockets on the fronts, so I knew which ones would fit me. Over the year, they started getting tighter and tighter. By the end of 2012, they were almost skin-tight and we were preparing to buy new ones for me to wear. My waist was 49 or 50 inches in January and now it is 44 inches in April. Those shirts are now way too big for me, although I still wear them. I noticed today that the neck on the shirt I am wearing is so stretched out that it almost looks like a V-neck shirt. They were tight around my neck before.

My neck has gotten so thin that I can actually see a neck lol. I haven’t had a proper neck in years. I was starting to think that I never had one at all.

My pants were always loose around my hips, but they fit around my waist if I hiked them up. Of course even if I did hike them up to my waist, they would fall down, so I always had to wear suspenders. Now they don’t even fit my waist because they are way too big. Now if I wear my fat pants, I end up looking like a circus clown.

One month ago I started wearing shorts because the weather started heating up. I tried on every pair of shorts we had and they were all too tight. Although some were too loose. I found one pair that was tight, but it fit, now those shorts are loose on me. I’m glad they have a drawstring so that I can make them tight so they don’t fall down. All my underwear still fit because the elastic band is still good, although they no longer curl down in the front because of my fat stomach.

I will be excited to see how I look in another month.

Anti-gay Android Game

On March 23, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Android, Anti-Gay, Games2 Comments

I have been playing video games since I was 10 or 12 years old. Video games usually consist of you playing a character who is on a mission to kill something to win the game. Not all games want you to kill something, for example The Sims or SimCity. Some games have a different outcome or objective other than killing.

I used to play adventure games from Sierra and those were games where you have to look for clues like a detective. Like the King’s Quest collection, Leisure Suit Larry and Quest for Glory for example.

I’m currently into MMORPG games like EverQuest, EverQuest 2 and Lord of the Rings Online. Although those games are the type that you have to kill something to gain experience points to gain levels. It’s not always a person, sometimes it’s a monster. A monster is one thing because you know that it is something that will kill you if you don’t kill it first. Like take a dragon for example, that is something that you obviously have to kill before it kills you, right? And that’s perfectly fine.

The thing that I have the issue with tonight, and I don’t think I’m overreacting, is that I found a game in the Google Android Market that aims at killing gay people. This game is called gay hunter. In their description they say “it could be a bit controversial too.” Ya think?

gay hunter 1

Description

Your the Ass Hunter, with shot gun in hand you hunt before you get hunted!
This game is just friggin’ hilarious! But it could be a bit controversial too. Don’t get assed yourself while hunting them!

Kill the naked ass pirates before they sodomize you! Don’t forget to find more ammo, and reload.
It’s worse than death to be caught by an Ass, so watch out hunter.

Hunt asses, and don’t get assed yourself.
Watch your Ass and enjoy!

I honestly don’t understand what goes through people’s minds when they decide to create a video game with the intention of killing a gay person who has done nothing wrong to deserve this punishment. A dragon is a harmful creature, a gay person just wants to live a normal life like everybody else. Why can’t they just give us that?

It’s a free country, so you can build your little anti-gay game if you want to, but I’m going to be who I am and I’m not going to let anyone dictate how I should live my life because it’s mine to live. I was born this way and I am happy that I was because it taught me to have more compassion for other people and I feel I am a better person for it. Whoever created this game has no morals and their karma is going to suffer for it, and that is my silver lining.

Awesome Update: I have a plugin that lets me know where there are dead links and I just found out that the link for this app is dead, so I went to Google Play and the app is GONE! YAY!

My Cycling Accident on March 16th

On March 19, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Health, Noom, Weight4 Comments

So this is how it happened. As you can see from the map on the left, I ride my bicycle with the blue line towards Albertsons going south on Chester. I lock my bike, go to the store, come out, unlock the bicycle and then head North on Eye street (now in red). I could go all the way back to my street, but I have bullies that live in the apartment building (note the X on Eye street). If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have broken my arm.

Anyway, I turn right on second Street, ride through the parking lot of the restaurant to get to the sidewalk on Chester Avenue. I normally ride along the sidewalk in front of the church until I get to their parking lot then I ride through the parking lot until I get back to my street behind the market.

What happened instead was that I hit the sidewalk bumper in front of the tax place. As you can see from the Google Map it does not exist, so it’s new. Here is the picture to prove it.

bike accident curb

I hit the corner of the little curb with my front tire and went head over handlebars and landed with all of my weight on my left shoulder. Here are the x-rays to show where my injury is and the bones broke in 3 places. There are only 3 x-rays.

xray1

I had my MRI today which took about 45 minutes. Most people probably don’t like to sit in a machine for 45 minutes, but thanks to my friend Jeff, I was able to meditate the whole time. The attendant mentioned something about breathing hard making blurry pictures and I learned how to take small breaths in meditation so I took small breaths and she told me that nobody has ever done that before and that she wished all of her patients did that. I won’t know anything until April 2nd, so i will blog again then.

Someone showed concern about my weight loss program. Because without the bicycle, with a broken arm, it’s going to be difficult to get any exercise. Well, to be honest I haven’t been really doing much exercise and I lost 35 pounds. So I really don’t see how it’s going to be any different. I’m positive that I will continue to lose weight because I will continue to eat healthy as long as my arm is broken. That’s not going to change. My motivation is still here, I am still 110% motivated to lose this weight. Just wait until Saturday when I weigh in.

I broke my arm

On March 17, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Health3 Comments

So funny story… I broke my arm.

What happened was, last night I rode my bicycle to the store and on my way home I was riding through a parking lot to go to the sidewalk on Chester Avenue. In the parking lot of the restaurant is a tax place and they put in a walk way to the front door. For some reason they decided to put a curb on both sides of the walkway. There’s really no reason for it. Long story short, I was riding through the parking lot and it was dark so I really couldn’t see the curb and I rode right over it . I went head over handlebars and landed on my left arm. All of my weight broke my arm.

I sat there on the ground for a few minutes because I couldn’t move. My arm was in so much pain that it hurt to even flinch. I decided that I had to get up, but it was very difficult. I got up anyway and went for my phone which was in my left front pocket. Of course I couldn’t pull it out with my left hand, so I had to reach over with my right hand to pull my phone out. I called home and said “help I’ve been in an accident.” I told my partner where I was and he drove right away to pick me up.

He put my bicycle in the car and drove home because I insisted that he put the groceries in the refrigerator and freezer. He drove me to the emergency room at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital and they took me to get x-rays almost immediately. It took maybe an hour and a half before they finally called me to go into a room to tell me the results of the x-ray. I just assumed that he was going to tell me that I dislocated my shoulder or just badly bruised my arm, but he told me that I did in fact break my arm. He didn’t put me in a cast and I didn’t have any surgery, he said that the bones were in place, so I just need to keep my arm in a sling for the next month.

I feel very stupid for not paying more attention because I have gone that way a million times and nothing like that has ever happened before. The thing that upsets me the most is that I’ve never broken a bone in my body my entire life. 42 years with not one broken bone. Oh well, I guess I was due lol.

Well, the positive thing about this is that I am able to type this by using my voice on my android cell phone lol. So I guess most of my computer activity is going to be with my voice. On the plus side, I don’t have to do any chores for a while lol. I can find a silver lining in anything.

The doctor said it will take a month to heal.

No More Fried Foods

On March 14, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Food, Health, NoomLeave a comment

I have been on my new “healthy lifestyle” (I’m not calling it a diet) for nearly 11 weeks now and I haven’t had any fried foods at all. I made some egg rolls by cooking them in butter, and those were awesome. I know that when Chinese restaurants cook them, they deep fry them in vegetable oil, so I bought some vegetable oil and cut 3 egg roll wrappers into many little strips and fried those because I just wanted the taste of the egg roll wrappers, not necessarily egg rolls themselves. They have those at the Chinese buffets. Well, that was a bad idea.

The thing is, when you are eating healthy foods, you are detoxifying your body. Your body isn’t used to eating junk anymore so when you all of a sudden eat something fried in vegetable oil, like say french fries, fried chicken or fish or say egg roll wrappers, it may taste good at first, but then it sits in your stomach and starts making you sick. I don’t know if it’s your stomachs reaction to the oil, but it doesn’t feel good.

Well, that is certainly a lesson I won’t soon forget. If I am going to live a healthy lifestyle, I need to cut out all fried foods. Frying the egg rolls in butter didn’t seem to hurt my stomach at all, so maybe perhaps next time I try something like that again I will do it in butter, but I won’t do that too often because butter isn’t exactly good for you either.

I tried to eat the egg rolls by baking them first, but they weren’t as good. The egg roll wrappers are hard to chew when they are baked because they are meant to be fried. They just taste better fried, but I won’t fry them again in oil. I can’t say I won’t fry them in butter again because that was really good, but butter isn’t good for losing weight so I won’t make them too often.

Is coffee with creamer going to prevent weight loss?

On March 9, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Health, Noom3 Comments

I have been drinking coffee since I was homeless at age 17. I didn’t like it black back then, and I don’t like it black today. I have always had it with cream and sugar. Although, I quit using actual sugar when I started getting fat after I quit smoking. I have been using a sweetener like Sweet N Low or Equal. I have been hearing about how horrible those sweeteners are for you and how you should use Splenda (gives me horrible stomach cramps) or Truvia (gives me the worst gas along with explosive diarrhea), but I simply can’t use those. Beside being more expensive, they have caused painful health problems for me.

I used to only use liquid creamers like International Delight or Coffee-Mate, which taste way better than the powder, but I find that I end up using more than I should and go through them much faster than I do with powder. Even though Coffee-Mate powdered creamer tastes good, it’s not as good as the liquid because it’s bland and doesn’t have the awesome flavors like Dulce De Leche, Hazelnut or French Vanilla. They do make the powdered ones with flavors, but I can’t afford them. The plain is more in my price range.

Someone lectured me recently about how I’m never going to lose any weight until I quit drinking coffee with creamer, but if I have to drink it black then I’d rather not drink it at all, so I quit for the week as an experiment. I was told that if I quit drinking coffee that I would start going through withdrawal symptoms, like headaches. Well, that never happened. I went almost a full week and I didn’t have any withdrawal symptoms at all. In fact, I was perfectly fine. Although I did notice that I haven’t been going to the bathroom as much (number 2 of course lol) so that has worried me. My weight loss didn’t increase by quitting coffee with creamer, so that theory of how I’m never going to lose weight if I don’t quit drinking coffee with creamer failed.

I wondered if there were any studies suggesting that coffee was bad for me, but I found quite the opposite. Popular Science gives me 7 Reasons Why Coffee Is Good For You. WebMD gives me The potential health benefits — and drawbacks –- of coffee. Forbes tells me to Have another cup of coffee – it’s good for you! And finally MayoClinic says What does the research say about coffee and health? Is coffee good or bad for me? Spoiler alert, it’s good.

Of course coffee does have caffeine which is addictive, but I think I have proven by my non-side effects that it isn’t, for me anyway. In fact, I have quit drinking many times in my life, not because I wanted to but simply because I couldn’t afford it and I never went through withdrawal symptoms before. I only drink coffee because I like the taste. I don’t like that it gives me bad breath or that it coats my tongue, but that’s what brushing your teeth and tongue is for, right?

I have been on my diet, or as I prefer to call it my new healthy lifestyle, for 9 weeks, and I have been drinking coffee this whole time up until last week and I had lost 28.4lbs. The amount of weight that I lost today on the beginning of my 10th week, which by the way was 3lbs, proves to me that I haven’t lost any more or any less than I have been losing in those 9 weeks. My goal is 2lbs per week and in those 9 weeks I have lost 3 to 4lbs per week. Nothing changed by cutting out coffee, so screw it, I’m drinking coffee again.

I’ve Lost 28lbs In 2 Months with the @Noom Android App

On March 1, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Diet, Exercise, Food, Health, Noom, Recipes2 Comments

I didn’t think it would be possible for me to be as happy about my body as I am right at this very moment.

My weight loss journey began on January 5th 2013. I didn’t want to make a cheesy New Years Resolution because every time I do, I don’t keep it. I was afraid of jinxing myself, so I decided that I wasn’t going to do it. But then I started thinking about it and figured, what’s the harm in saying I want to lose weight, but not because I feel obligated to make a New Years Resolution, but because I want to lose weight and be healthy. Not just go on a diet, but try to change my eating habits for good.

As I was looking for a new weight loss app, I found Noom right on the Google Play Store page on my new HTC One V from Virgin Mobile. It was a free app so I figured what the heck, let’s install it and see what it looks like. I fell in love with it right away because of all of the things it can do compared with some of the other diet apps I had installed. I wanted the pro version, so instead of paying a monthly fee for it, I just paid for it for life. I know, I should have played with it to see how it would work for at least a week or so, but I already knew it was going to help me lose weight, and well, here I am today.

This is only half of my weight loss journey though, not even half yet. I want to lose 63lbs, so I still have a way to go.

I know people are going to ask what I did to lose 28.4lbs in 2 months. Well, I logged everything I ate everyday in the Noom app. They have Green foods, Yellow foods and Red foods. So say you are eating vegetables like Broccoli or Brussels Sprouts, those are green. The Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinners are green, and that is what I ate for lunch and dinner every day for the last 2 months. Basically, I’ve been trying to eat anything and everything that is green, but I have been eating a few yellows and reds here and there because you can have them, just not as much as the greens.

Just to note, I am not just going to eat healthy to help me lose weight. I am changing the way I think about food and I do plan on continuing to eat healthy after I have lost all the weight because I want to stay healthy. I do not want to gain the weight all over again. I’ve also been learning what is in the food that I have been eating that made me fat and that is also my motivation to eat healthy. They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but this old dog is learning new tricks everyday and will stick with it.

I have been making my own peanut butter and sugar-free strawberry jam and sugar-free applesauce and even making my own banana ice cream. I have also been finding recipes for healthy treats like cookies made out of fruit and oatmeal. Those are really good. I made a recipes page on my website that I thought I’d share. I’m still adding more when I find them.

The only thing I have not done yet to help me lose weight is exercise, and I have a very good reason. I have tried to go for walks, and we went out a few times in the beginning, but I have degenerative disc disease in my lower spine which makes walking very painful. I can ride the bike because I am sitting down, I just can’t walk for too long. The back wheel on my bicycle kept deflating because the rim tape broke and I didn’t know it, but I have fabric rim tape on it now and the tube is filled with air so I can finally start riding again. Thankfully my back doesn’t hurt when I’m on the bike.

So, like I said, I am only halfway there. I just wanted to give an update of my current progress. See you again when I have lost all 63lbs.

Shamballa Style

On February 27, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn AdLeave a comment

I’m singing a new song today and it’s called Shamballa style.

Shamballa Style isn’t really a song, but more the name of a style of jewelry sold online based in the United Kingdom. They sell Shamballa Bracelets in many different styles, and they are really cool looking, as you can see from the image above.

They don’t just sell bracelets, they also sell necklaces, earrings, rings and watches for as low as £3.99. You can even add a gift box for an additional £2.50. They even send you a free gift pouch with all orders.

They ship using Royal mail to all countries and free delivery if you live in the U.K.

I think this style of jewelry is going to catch on real quick.

The Incredibly Shrinking Nerd

On February 26, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, NoomLeave a comment

forever love ring no diamond

Have you ever seen the movie “The Incredibly Shrinking Woman” with Lily Tomlin? Remember the scene where her wedding ring falls off her finger and she is realizing that she is indeed shrinking? I had a moment similar to that today, but I’m not shrinking in height, only from losing fat.

I went to the restroom and as I was washing my hands in the sink, my ring fell off my finger and into the sink. That has never happened before. I dried my hands and put it on my middle finger which is thicker than my ring finger and it actually fit. I took it off and put it on my other ring finger on my right hand and it fit, which was weird because my right hand ring finger is thicker than my left hand ring finger, and my ring fit on it as snug as it has been on my left ring finger all this time. That confirms to me that not only am I losing fat in my body, but also my hands too.

This is good, in a way, but it also means that I’m going to have to start shopping for a new ring lol. My ring represents my love for my partner, and although he didn’t buy it for me, it means the same to me as a wedding ring means to a person who is married. It had 2 cubic zirconia diamonds that have both fallen out, it was a $20 ring so I didn’t expect them to stay in lol. It also says “forever love” with the diamond in between the words on both sides.

I’ve only lost 25lbs in the last 2 months and I wasn’t expecting my fingers to shrink at all. I’ve been so used to chubby fingers all these years that I thought they were always that thick. It never even occurred to me that my fingers gained fat since my hands didn’t gain any fat.

Anyway, glad this new healthy lifestyle is paying off. I can’t wait to be skinny again.

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