Here we are at the beginning of 2012.  I'm at about 280.  I've lost about 180 pounds.  Almost all of it was in the year 2011.  So as far as that "lose weight" resolution goes...I think I nailed that one.

So what about 2012?  Well, it's time to focus on getting to my goal weight and trying to figure out what that will mean.  Pretty soon I'm going to get some immersion body fat testing done to find out what my lean mass really is, but I'm guessing my goal will be around 200.

One thing I do need to do is get off my butt and figure out if my bike can be made rideable again or if I just need to get a new one.  I do want to start riding pretty soon with my eventual goal being riding the bike to and from work.  If I get going then it should only take me about 20 to 30 minutes (as opposed to the 10-15 that driving takes) and give me a bit of extra exercise during the day.  

My friends on Facebook and whatnot know why, but for those who don't - my mother passed away on July 21st.  She had been in the hospital recovering from a femoral bypass and things just took a turn for the worse.  She was in the ICU for about 5 weeks and we were even hoping she'd be make it to a rehab hospital but it was not to be.  I missed my trip to Florida and spent as much time as I could in Sacramento - a lot of it with Mom in the ICU.  (The ICU staff at Sutter Memorial were amazing.  It's the people that make the hospital, not the building or equipment.)

Needless to say this has been a fairly stressful time and I have strayed a bit from the plan - I've been "out of the box" on occasion, to use HMR speak.  It can be hard.  For example the day of Mom's funeral I had to pick up car up from the dealership after having been repaired.  The car made it 10 miles and then completely died.  I called a tow truck and the first tow truck showed up with a broken winch and I had to wait for a second.  It made for a long afternoon and by the time I got back home my dad had ordered pizza for him and my sister.  I looked at my diet food and just said "screw it".  (Well, I didn't use screw.  But I did use a similar word.)

Fortunately with all that went on the damage was slight - by the time I checked in again I had gained 4 pounds.  (The first week that this had all gone on I had lost 12.)  That's already off.  I'm down to 330 now, so that makes a loss of 130.  Since I had listed 200lb as my original goal weight I'm halfway there - but I'm starting to think 180 now, so I need to lose 10 more pounds to get there.

The benefits of losing weight showed up a lot on my vacation to Maui.  After all of the stress I felt I needed to do something and when Chris' timeshare interval came up I talked him in to going.  (I didn't have to talk very hard.)  Being able to walk places and move better was very nice.  I needed just a bit of a seatbelt extension on the plane but I was able to use the tray table in first class for the first time.  (They're in the arm and come out and down over your belly.  For me my tummy was always in the way.)  Look for another post on Maui after I get my first set of pictures uploaded. 

Anyway I'm trying to be back on track with mixed results.  We'll see.  I don't want to give up at all, but things are challenging right now.  I'm told it will get easier.

Fear not - that's not the case here.  I'm just lazy.  (This is the secret to my success on HMR.)  My official HMR stats are 79 pounds in 17 weeks.  The actual total weight loss on *my* scale is about 104 pounds.  (That also includes the weight I loss in between attending the HMR orientation and actually starting the program - about 1.5 months.)  I've been entirely in the box for these 17 weeks - and that's why the scale says what it does.

When I ducked under 360 that was pretty big for me because I remember seeing the scale at 460 and going "OMGWTFBBQ11!1!!!!".  I'm also looking forward to 350 since that's the max weight for many things like bicycles and gym equipment.  Sadly, that milestone isn't very far away so it's gonna be here quick.  The next one will obviously be seeing the most significant digit go from "3" to "2".  

I really need to dig up some pictures or something - when I look in the mirror the changes don't look that dramatic to me.  They do to some folks, not to others.  I know there are changes though - for Christmas my dad bought me 2 pairs of jeans that had 66" waists.  I just bought a new pair (of actual Levi brand) jeans that were 60".  That's 6" off.  Plus things fit better in the leg and butt.  (A large part of the loss has been in my butt.  Don't ask me how I know.)  I also had to pick up a new belt because even with all the extra holes the old belt was just looking wrong.  (Hey Rochester here's a hint - when your house brand belt is the same price as the Ralph Lauren belt I'm going RL.)

The one thing that was cool was that my "nice" clothes fit again.  I started buying some pimp gear at Rochester Big and Tall back in 2002-ish.  Lotsa stuff with horsies on it.  None of it had fit for a while. (Heck, I've got a pair of pants that still have the tags on them.)  I weigh much less now than when I bought it - more proof that it's not coming off my belly as fast as it is coming off from other places.  But then again it's stuff that barely fit when I bought it.  It really fits now.  "Shopping in your own closet" is nice and doesn't cost much.  I don't think the stuff will fit for long but I'll enjoy it while it does.  I'll dress up and scare my co-workers.  (Wearing nice clothes to the office usually means you're interviewing somewhere.)  Obviously I'm trying to avoid dumping too much cash into clothes right now.  But at a minimum I need to have, at any given time, two pairs of jeans that fit, underwear, a belt, and t-shirts.  I'm gonna buy jeans one pair at a time - see if I can wait until I'm down to 56-ish before buying another pair.  I guess I'll usually have one pair that's a bit snug and one pair that's a bit loose. 

I also needed new undies and have discovered the magic of boxer briefs.  How did I not know about these things?  They're awesome.  My giblets are pleased.  I'm *really* looking foward to hitting 3X size because I think stuff like the compression gear that Under Armour makes will be helpful.  Things are getting flabby enough that I wanna keep it strapped down.

I'm looking forward to my trip to Florida - I wonder if I'll still need a belt extender.  Maybe.  I'm sure the seat will be more comfortable.  I'm still flying in first class - I'm not ready for the trauma of coach yet.  But I'll just make a shake (or eat a cold bean entree - not too bad) and enjoy the ride. 

Over the 12 weeks of core I lost 54 pounds (by the way HMR does math).  The only real complaint I have was that towards the end of the program I hit a two week plateau.  At two weigh-ins in a row I had lost 0 pounds.  This may or may not have been related to the cold I had, but it was very frustrating and I do feel like I didn't get a lot of support during that time.  It's very frustrating to do everything like you're supposed to and see no results.  Also, the plateau means that I didn't make my hope for an average of 5lb/week during core, but 4.5 isn't too bad.

Our class, that had about 15 people in it, lost 359 pounds total.  Since I only represented about 6% of the class, but 15% of the weight loss, I assume that I lost more than some people.  They wouldn't say who lost how much however - it's not a competition.  (Yeah, right.)

On the exercise front things are improving.  I started off doing no exercise, then 30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week, then 35 minutes, then 45 minutes.  Now it's 45 minutes 4 times a week and soon to be 5.  I also have started working with a personal trainer for strength training, flexibility, and stability.  My stated goal is to start riding a bike soon - then I'll be working on getting good enough to ride to and from work.    

Yeah, I know, it's been a while.  So here's an update on where things stand.  I've now completed 8 weeks on the HMR program.  Here's where I'm at:

All three of these things are pretty good news.  The diet has been very successful so far.

I'm not really seeing HUGE physical changes yet.  My pants are getting kind of loose and I definitely need to add some holes to my belt. I think my man boobs are shrinking.  Hopefully this weekend I'm going to be digging out some of my older slacks and seeing if they fit enough to be wearable.  I miss my brown corduroys.    

Other than that, I'm about 25% of the way to my goal.  That's worth celebrating, I think.

This little sucker has been taunting me every time I go into HRO.  It's only 1.5 watts but it's also VERY small and so I don't have an excuse to not keep it on me.  Which means, I suppose, that I'll have a radio on me more of the time.  Yeah, that's sure to make me more cool.

One thing I tried this week was making the HMR cereal as a savory dish.  So instead of water I made it on the stove with chicken stock, cumin, curry, and garlic.  It's VERY tasty that way.  The cereal with cinnamon and Stevia was ok.  The cereal with the above spices is extremely tasty.  Who would of thought that "savory oatmeal" would end up being tasty?

I have two basic concerns at this point:

Other than that it's just going.  We'll see how week 4 goes.

This commercial came out right around the time I got my Jetta and boy did it make me feel cool like the cool people in these commercials. I will say that 14 years and 170,000 miles later I think I have gotten my money's worth. I hope the R32 does as well. (It's at 6 years and about 60,000 miles.)

However we've got a new seasoning "in the box" and it's crazygood:

Yeah, that's right, powdered peanut butter.  It's way lower in fat and calories than "regular" peanut butter.  1 serving is 2 tablespoons and is 45 calories.  However, I have found that only 2 teaspoons are necessary to turn a somewhat bland HMR shake into a frozen peanut butter cup.  I'm only using it once a day right now to avoid burning out on it, but if you like peanut butter (and I am rather fond of it) I bet there's all sorts of things you could do with this stuff. 

The good news: On the second week of the diet I was again "in the box" (meaning I didn't cheat) all 7 days.  I even got in my first workout.

The bad news: I only lost 3 pounds.

Some folks might say "Hey, 3 pounds is good!"  And on a normal diet I would be happy with that.  However this diet isn't "normal".  It is supposedly so intense that I'm taking a drug to avoid gallstones because I'm supposed to lose weight so fast.  It's so hardcore that I need to get blood work done every two weeks.  It's expensive.  I was expecting better.

And here's the thing - at 3 pounds a week average I will have to be on the plan an extra 7 months longer than the advertised (and hoped for) 5 pounds per week.  Now maybe that number was unreasonable to hope for but if it the diet ends up performing at a 3 pounds a week rate then that's only 1 pound a week more than the "safe and sane" 2 pounds a week.  And I'm not sure that's worth all the sacrifices necessary for this plan (such as having to carry their food with you everywhere, like on vacation).

I haven't given up yet - I've committed to doing at least the "core program" which is 12 weeks.  And I have higher hopes for week 3, as I will have gotten in 3 workouts during the diet week.  (That's the max I'm willing to do right now until I get more weight off and take stress off my knees.)  We'll see how it goes.

First, the good news.  According to my scale this morning after 1 week on the diet I am down 13.2 pounds. (HMR weighs in the evening and their scale said 12 pounds, but I'm going with my home scale for now.)  I tend to post huge results on the first week of any diet, and I'm sure a lot of that is water weight, so while it's a good number I will wait and see what next week brings before I get too excited.

Now, the not-so-good news.  I got blood work done this week and I'm a little concerned about my uric acid level.  In December, during the screening, I was at 6.6mg/dL.  This week I was 7.2mg/dL.  And the reference range is 2.6 - 7.2.  *sigh*  Unfortunately for the folks at HMR I got my test results via the Sutter/PAMF online system before I went in, so I knew something was up and was prepared to discuss it.  While technically this isn't hyperuricemia it is going in that direction and I wanted to know what I could do other than trying to drink more water.  I was told this was not unexpected - when you're on a low calorie diet it's like being on a high purine diet.  This number could go up, fluctuate, or does who knows what.  Clearly I'll be keeping an eye on it.

As far as the actual diet program itself that hasn't been too bad.  The shakes are ok, and I am more than happy with my fancy new Blendtec blender.  The instructions for the shakes say to add water and powder, blend on low for a bit, add the ice one cube at a time, blend on low for 90 seconds, etc.  Well screw that.  I put everything in the jar, and hit the "smoothie" button.  25 seconds later I have a very smooth shake.  (And the cats are hiding somewhere.)  Yay Blendtec.  However, as far as making shakes on the road the recommended BlenderBottle is just kinda meh.  Not a tasty shake.  I will need to work on figuring that out.

The real surprise has been the entrees.  They are rather tasty.  There is a strong tendency towards tomato-based stuff as far as sauces, but so far they are pretty good.  They're on the small size, of course, but 60 seconds in the microwave and they're done.  If I'm really hungry and it's time to practice "More Is Better™" then I'm more likely to grab one of them than a shake.  Except for the risotto.  I traded my leftover one back in.

The bars are good, and I'm trying to limit myself to no more than 2 a day although they are "in the box".  They taste very familiar - I know I've had the same exact product under a different label.

The last two things I tried were the cereal and the "chicken soup".  Firstly, yes, the Blendtec will heat soup. That's crazy, and I will not do it again because it was insanely loud.  The blender runs at full speed for 90 seconds.  No, I'll just use the stove.  The soup itself was kinda nasty.  I'm gonna try adding some bullion to it and seeing if that improves it.  As far as the cereal goes - it's nice, just incredibly bland.  I had to hit it with some Splenda/Stevia to get some flavor.  I will also try adding salt and cinnamon.  

So far the first week was pretty easy, but then it always is.  Now we'll really start to see how things go - it's not so new anymore, and I'll also start to get an idea of how much weight I can really lose.  Also, at this point, I haven't tested myself on the diet.  I didn't leave my apartment last weekend.  I got home on Friday night and didn't leave until Monday morning.  At some point I'll need to be able to go out into the real world but for now I'm just trying to get up to a good solid start in order to get some motivation.