9 Pounds Down and a New Outlook on Weight Loss!

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As I'm coming up on 6 months since I started this blog, I'm pleased to report that I've lost almost 9 pounds! (8.8 to be exact, but who's counting? Oh right, I am, publicly) I'm also AT MY LIGHTEST WEIGHT SINCE I STARTED THIS BLOG! 213.4 pounds to be exact, down from 222.2!

Looking at the chart above, I've noticed that in the last couple weeks, I've stopped doing the whole yoyo thing. While I haven't lost weight every week, my weight's changed no more than 1.5 pounds in any given week, and the overall trend is downwards! I think in the last couple weeks I've had a mental shift to an understanding that I'm going to lose weight. I'm attributing this to Napoleon Hill's 1937 book "Think and Grow Rich", which talks about setting out to achieve a goal and using certain techniques to convince yourself there's no way you can fail.

There's a great story in the book about an army general who landed on the shores of their enemy's beaches, and instructed his men to burn their ships. When they asked why, his reply was, "Retreating back to the ships and losing this battle is not an option". I highly recommend the book both to people who are looking to increase their income (which is really the main focus of the book), and to those who have any goal they'd like to accomplish. Hill was a close friend of Dale Carnegie and the book contains Carnegie's game plan for success.

So now that gaining weight's not an option, it's been easier to watch what I eat and track my points. Also, being almost 9 pounds thinner feels great! My big challenge coming up however is going to be restaurant week. During winter's restaurant week, I gained 2.5 pounds, which isn't an option to have happen again. Despite the 10 or so reservations I made, I'm thinking I might just give them all to friends (email me if you're interested in taking some of my reservations) and maybe take myself out to one really extraordinary dinner. This will be, over the course of two weeks, both less fattening, and less expensive!

On a separate note, I've been doing more and more cooking in the last couple weeks/months, which has been great! Apparently it's VERY easy to make seared scallops, and at this point I've got steak and chicken down pat. I did manage to overcook a tuna steak though while trying to sear it...8 minutes per inch my ass. But it's all a learning experience! FreshDirect has a great "How to Cook It" section here.

That's all for this weeks folks. Next week will officially be 6 months of this blog so expect a big post then!

----Alex

EPIC FAIL!!! How I set out to lose 40 pounds and lost 7!!!

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AND EPIC FAIL!!! Well, not completely, but my birthday's now come and gone, and instead of loosing the 40 pounds I was planning to lose, I've lost 7.... Crap...

On the upside, I lost 7 pounds! Which means I am OFFICIALLY NO LONGER OBESE! My BMI has gone from 30.1 to 29.2 (over 30 being obese, 25-29.9 being overweight), and I gotta say, my clothes are definitely fitting me a little more loosely. O.K. let's be honest, my clothes are fitting me again, period :)

So what've I learned over the last 6 months:

1. Losing weight's a whole lot more challenging than I thought it would be! You can see above how my weight's Yo-Yo'd over the last 6 months. I'll have one or two really good weeks, then I feel like I've got things under control and stop tracking my points and BAM, I'm up another couple pounds.
2. I really like food. I mean I knew this before, but I REAALLLYY like food, and good (read: unhealthy) food at that.
3. It pays to be an underachiever (when exercise is involved). What I mean is, if I tell myself I'm going to the gym to spend 40 minutes on the treadmill, I'll never do it. However if I tell myself I'm only going to do 20 minutes (while watching an episode of South Park on my iPhone), then I'll almost always make it to the gym. I'll actually only do 20 minutes, but 20 minutes of cardio 3 times a week is definitely better than 40 minutes of cardio 0 times a week :) Then if I'm super motivated I'll lift or do some muscle building stuff (yes, stuff, this is the extent of my workout knowledge).
4. I have a problem with chocolate. No really. There are days at work, where candy bowls abound, that I'll eat up to 10 pieces of candy. 10!

Anyway, I plan to spend some more time reflecting on the weight loss journey of the past 6 months, but I've got other stuff I have to get done tonight. One important things I'd like to point out though is:

I'M NOT STOPPING THIS WEIGHT LOSS JOURNEY

Even though I didn't meet my 6 months goal, I'm not giving up on losing weight, and I plan to continue to post my weight and experiences with food every week on the blog. So stay tuned for further pound shedding!

And on a last note, I'd like to share with everyone what my shopping list looks like for a week. Some of this stuff (mustard, OJ, Cranberry juice, bagels, whitefish) will last me more than a week, but this pretty covers me for lunch every day and the 2 dinners this week I plan to eat at home. I'll maybe dive into this further next week, but had the screen shot in front of me so wanted to share.

Until next week!

----Alex

Back on Track and the Power of the Broiler...

3 Pounds Down and I'm Back on Track

Woohoo, back on track! Dropped 3 pounds this week, didn't make it to the gym but tracked what I was eating and cooked at home a lot. Have my first kickboxing class at a new gym near my house on Monday, so planning on getting in some exercise in this week.

On the cooking at home topic, today's post is dedicated to the magic of your oven's Broiler (oooh, aaah, wwooww). To be honest, cooking meat at home used to scare me. I've spent a lot of time making pastries and other baked good, but I always worried that if I tried to cook a steak, or salmon, or anything that used to be alive (no kids, there's no brownie farm out there), that I'd either overcook it and it would be chewy, undercook it and I'd get some horrible disease that I can't pronounce, or otherwise screw up the meal.

Then in swooped Fresh Direct's Cooking Instructions, and I haven't looked back since. So far I've mastered broiling steak and salmon, and am slowly pushing my comfort zone out to other things like veal and using marinades.

What I never realized is how SIMPLE broiling is. Take your steak, trim the fat, rub on some Olive Oil (NOT Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which is for tasting and not for cooking due to its lower smoking temperature, I think...), sprinkle on copious amounts of sea salt and some pepper, then place under the broiler (about 2 inches away from flame) for 7 minutes on one side, then another 3 on the other (for a 1" steak), remove from broiler, cover with tin foil for 5 minutes to let the juices distribute (meat will continue to cook once you remove it from the oven/broiler, about another 10 degrees so remove when your meat's about a notch more rare than you like it), then serve! It looks something like this:

Steak Dinner Under the Broiler...Yum

Also, I've been sautéing a lot of veggies recently, which are equally as easy. Below is the following: put about a Tbsp of Olive Oil into a pan, turn on high, add mushrooms, brussels sprouts, sprig of rosemary, sea salt and pepper and sauté until the mushrooms gives up their water and the brussels sprouts become soft. Just grab a fork and taste as you go!

Mushroom and Brussel Sprouts with Rosemary

I also made this recipe for Sauteed Brussel Sprouts the other night, with some salmon (add olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, 7 minutes under the broiler), and a quick Israeli salad (chop veggies of your choice, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper dressing) for this delicious dinner:

Salmon, Caramelized Brussels Sprouts, Israeli Salad, Pinot Noir

It's actually surprisingly easy to whip up a quick meal that's delicious! I also took Knife Skills 1 at the Institute of Culinary Education's Recreational Division last weekend, so I've been looking for excuses to make things that involve dicing or cutting. I must say though, my carrot dicing skills are nothing short of a work of art:

He Dices, He Slices, He May or May Not be Missing a Finger!

Turns out there's a whole skills to using knives and keeping them sharp which makes food prep MUCH easier and faster. The course is $100, lasts 3 hours, and I HIGHLY recommend anyone and everyone take it!

That's all for this week, let me know in a post below if you have any great (i.e. easy and delicious) recipes or cooking resources to share with everyone!

----Alex

I'm Back! And how $100 might help me lose 5% of my weight

I'm Back! Yes I know it's been a shocking and shameful 5 WEEKS since I've posted, so I'm attempting to get back on the wagon:

This is literally what I think of EVERY time I hear someone's back on or off the Wagon. Thank  you Oregon Trail...

 That goes for both updating the blog, and for the whole weight loss endeavor itself. As you can probably see if you squint at the graph above, about a month ago I had gotten down to 213.8 pounds. Woohoo, everyone celebrate! Fast forward to today, and I'm back up to 218.6. Turns out losing weight is harder than I thought. Who knew?

Back to all that in a moment, but I want to give a special shout out to Doug (see the light blue line on the graph above), who's joining Chins To Chiseled, and who has also lost an amazing 14.6 pounds since the New Year (6 of it in the last month!). Which means it's now officially time for us to all say: TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF DOUGIE! (sry, inside joke, let's just say Doug likes to wear multiple layers of clothing when he's playing drums...) Doug, would love for you to share some of your tricks in the comments section below.

So back to me. Three things really derailed my weight loss in the last month, so it's these three things I'm going to focus on to get back on track:

1. Track what I eat every day
2. Order groceries in advance and bring lunch to work/cook at home
3. Go to the gym

Seems pretty simple, right? The reality is that for me, losing weight is this simple, it's just sticking to the plan that's tough, especially the gym. I think signing up for a gym that involves an hour of commuting every time was a mistake, especially in Manhattan where no one should have to commute anywhere (except maybe to work). That being said, I like boxing, so I'm looking into boxing gyms that are a little more convenient.

As for groceries and tracking what I eat, these are just inconvenient repetitive things that have huge positive returns if I do them, so I think it's just time to suck it up and commit.

Lastly, I've entered into a weight loss bet. My brother Daniel and friend Ari and I are each putting up $100 to see if we can lose 5% body weight by July 1st. Cause as we all know, it's all about the Benjamins:

For me that's 11.25 pounds in 6 weeks, for Ari it's 9.25 pounds, and for Daniel it's 9.75 pounds (I'll let you do the math to figure out our actual weights). Anyone who loses the 5% gets to keep their cash AND gets the cash of the people who don't lose 5%. It's very serious stuff. Anyone who'd like to join the bet, let me know ASAP!

That's all for now, time to go look into boxing gyms and order some groceries!

----Alex

(Update about 10 minutes after I wrote this: just signed up for trial classes at a kickboxing gym that's 5 blocks from my house... tough to beat that convenience...!)

MY MOST IMPORTANT POST EVER

 I'm down to 215 for a total of 7.2 pounds lost, only about 32 more pounds to go!

IF THERE'S ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE, ANY GOAL, THAT YOU'VE BEEN WANTING OR TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH AND HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO, THIS POST WILL MAKE YOU UNDERSTAND WHY (yes, it's that powerful).

Be prepared, because I am about to get all self-helpy on yer ass:

WATCH THE FOLLOWING VIDEO. I swear to God, it will change your life and make you see things from a new perspective. It involves two well known internet marketers, Frank Kern and John Reese, speaking informally with coaching guru Tony Robbins. JUST WATCH THE FIRST 5 MINUTES and if it doesn't make you want to watch the rest, I will literally, literally eat my shorts (you bring the 2 pounds of BBQ sauce I'm gonna need to eat them). THIS IS THE VIDEO THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

Get it now?

(skip this paragraph if you watced the videos) Now JUST IN CASE any of you skipped the video (which I'm sure none of you did), the main point goes something like this: Most people don't accomplish the goals they want to accomplish because they don't actually believe, or can't picture themselves, accomplishing the goal. So they don't take action (because they don't think they can do it), and as a result, don't get any results. When they don't get results, it reaffirms their belief that they can't accomplish that goal.

(skip this one too if you watched the video) So how do you break that cycle? By envisioning yourself accomplishing those goals. If in your mind you can see yourself accomplishing a goal, and know with certainty that it can be accomplished, your actions will start to reflect that thinking. And as your actions align with your belief that you can accomplish that goal, you start to see results, which then reinforces your belief that you can accomplish the goal. Like I said, a little self-helpy, but it actually works AMAZINGLY well. 

So where am I going with all this? Well, I lost 2.6 pounds this week, for a total of 7.2 pounds lost so far (woohoo!). The black polo shirt I'm wearing as I write has always been a little tight on me, and needed some gentle stretching before I could put it on :) Today I put it on, and thought it was my OTHER, LARGER black polo (yes, I have multiple in different cuts, I'm a polo whore) because all of a sudden it wasn't tight! How'd this happen?

I started boxing twice a week. Since I'm paying a ridiculous $250 a month for this boxing gym, I'd really be an ass hole not to get my money's worth, so I've actually managed to go twice a week for the last 3 weeks.

Now the first time I went boxing, I didn't know shit about it, except it was supposed to be a good workout. But once I got there, and saw myself in hand wraps and boxing gloves, I started to see myself as a boxer, and as someone who went to the gym and exercised. I've always had the attitude that I hated the gym (my belief about myself), so as a result, I wouldn't go, and wouldn't get results. This REINFORCED my belief that I hated the gym, since my lack of going wasn't providing me with any results to prove that I didn't hate the gym, and just led to a big old circle of couch potato-ness.

But after getting over the initial hump of going boxing JUST ONCE, I started to picture myself as a boxer and as someone who enjoyed learning a new sport. Because I started to see myself this way, I took action that was in line with my beliefs, and started going boxing more. Then I started to see the results. And what were those? All of a sudden, my polo shirts fit, I have more energy, I look better, I feel stronger, and I'm getting better at boxing too! Seeing the results has reinforced my belief that I enjoy working out, which leads me to keep going back to boxing. TADA! My changed beliefs have changed my results!

How else did seeing myself this new way change my actions? Well there's this new burger place in my neighborhood I've been wanting to try called The Counter. Had dinner there after my workout today, and I'd like you to notice something about the following pictures:

Seeing it? Take a closer look at the plates... Why what's the? THERE'S FOOD LEFT ON THE PLATES! To be exact, there's half a bun, half of fried onion toppings, and half an order of fries (and some veggies and junk).

NOW I NEVER LEAVE FOOD ON MY PLATE. But as I was eating, and feeling like the type of person who's getting into shape and taking care of my body, I realized that I didn't need to eat THE ENTIRE MEAL. I could ACTUALLY leave food on my plate (gasp, oh no, what?). Yeah, this is not a standard thing for me, I've been referred to as the human vacuum at restaurants before, finishing everything on both my plate and my friends' plates.

So my belief that I was getting my body into shape extended past getting myself to the gym and made me make a different decision about how much food I was eating (now I suppose I could have had a salad or something for dinner, but a burger just tastes SO much better).

So moral of the story, pick one of your goals, and start envisioning every day what it will look and feel like to accomplish that goal. KNOW that you can accomplish that goal (even if you're just saying the words and don't believe them, YET). I think you'll be surprised how quickly your actions start to line up with your beliefs, and how quickly you'll actually start moving towards that goal. I know I have!

That's all for this week folks, if you've made it this far, leave a comment below with the current goals you're trying to accomplish, weight loss or otherwise!

----Alex

P.S. If you're at all interested in the type of Internet Marketing that Frank Kern and John Reese were talking about, please please please reach out to me. I'm just starting on my own Internet Marketing journey and would LOVE for any and everyone to come along for the ride!

On Planning Ahead

Anyone reading is welcomed and encouraged to send me their weekly weight so we can track together and motivate each other to lose weight. "Alex - Projected" would be my weight loss of 40 pounds by my birthday on 6/12/11, at a steady 1.9 pounds per week. "Alex - Actual" is my actual weight loss. I can also post your weight anonymously under a name of your choosing! Also you may have noticed that the numbers under "Judy" don't correspond to the graph. She's opted to only send her weight changes, so we'll track from an arbitrary starting point of 190 pounds (because it fit nicely in the graph). You're al welcome to pursue this option as well if you don't want to give your actual weight. We'll make a nice colored line on the graph for you too!

This was one of those weeks where I realized the importance of something that's so completely obvious and simple, that I had to kick myself a little for not realizing it sooner. It was much like the times I realized that "kitten kaboodle" was actually "kit and kaboodle", "all intensive purposes" was "all intents and purposes", and lastly, I could never figure out why in the song "Home on the Range", the word "seldom" was itself, a discouraging word ("where seldom is heard, a discouraging word..."). It's amazing anybody gave me a college degree, because I didn't realize that last one until I was IN college :)

So my realization started this week when I decided I deserved a nice 12 oz. boneless NY strip steak for dinner one night. With all the fixings, my meaty masterpiece clocked in at about 20 Weight Watchers points, out of my 49 points for the day. So what did I do to be able to eat this steak guilt free? I made more healthy choices for the rest of the day, and kept under the 29 remaining points! Duuuuuhhhhhhhh. Now I know this might seam obvious, but I think it's the first time I've put any thought in the morning to how many points I'd be eating for dinner. Usually I get to dinnertime, see how many points I have left, and then make/order whatever I'm in the mood for (usually whether or not it stays within my daily points). Here I had figured out a way to both eat a delicious steak, AND not go over my daily points. Genius!

This got me thinking about other ways that different types of planning ahead can make weight loss easier and healthier:

1. Order your groceries for the week in advance: I know I've mentioned it before, but having healthy food in the house prevents you from running out to get an unhealthy snack, or ordering an unhealthy meal. While some people go as far as planning their daily or weekly menus in advance (which I encourage if it works for you), I just like to always have some breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack foods around the house that I don't have to feel guilty about eating.
2. Plan your exercise into your calendar: I've only started doing this in the last week or two, since I joined a boxing gym, but it's been a HUGE help in actually getting myself to go to the gym. Also, in an odd bit of reverse psychology, I've realized that BECAUSE my new gym is about an hour round trip commute, it makes me want to go there MORE than I want to go to the gym in my building. Seems odd, right? I think it's like a fraternity hazing thing, where I value going to my new gym more BECAUSE I have to go out of my way to get there and plan in advance when I'll have time to go. Also, boxing's a kickass workout.
3. Plan your weekend eating/drinking in advance: If you know you're headed to a restaurant Friday or Saturday night, take a look at the menu first to get an idea of what you might like to eat. If you live in NYC, I recommend http://www.menupages.com for restaurant menus. Then calculate in advance how many points you think you'll eat (including drinks, bread, appetizers, entrées and dessert) and eat within the remaining points for the rest of the day. OR if you know you'll be having a particularly large, heavy meal, make an effort to go to the gym that day to offset some of the calories! This goes for drinking too. If you know you want to get completely shit-faced on a Saturday night, figure out how many drinks that takes (hopefully after college you'll know the magic number), calculate up the points, and eat within your remaining points that day.

For anyone keeping track, I'm now a total of 4.6 pounds lighter than when I started, with 35.3 pounds to go. This averages out to losing about 3.5 pounds a week for the next 10 weeks, so we'll see how that goes :) Honestly, if I could get down to 200 (which would mean losing another 17.6 pound by my birthday), I would be thrilled. And of course now that I'm boxing, I'll be building muscle too... sure we'll go with that excuse :)

'Till next week!

----Alex

Screw Exercise

Anyone reading is welcomed and encouraged to send me their weekly weight so we can track together and motivate each other to lose weight. "Alex - Projected" would be my weight loss of 40 pounds by my birthday on 6/12/11, at a steady 1.9 pounds per week. "Alex - Actual" is my actual weight loss. I can also post your weight anonymously, such as my good friend "Benny Platinum", whose true identity will remain secret! Also you may have noticed that "Judy" doesn't actually weight 0 pounds. She's opted to only send her weight changes, so we'll track from a starting point of zero pounds. You're al welcome to pursue this option as well if you don't want to give your actual weight. We'll make a nice colored line on the graph for you too!

SCREW EXERCISE

You heard me right, SCREW EXERCISE. From this day forth, I swear to never ever do another step, minute, ounce, stride or moment f exercise ever again. I'm being completely serious too (and no I'm not getting lipo, that would be the easy way out (and expensive (and yes I'm doing parenthesis within parenthesis, like a math problem, anyone remember PEMDAS?))).

Here's what goes through my head when I think of exercising: Shit. I have to go get on the elliptical for 40 minutes and run in place? Maybe it won't be so bad if I do something like listen to music or watch TV. Ugh but then I have to get myself to the gym (which happens to be ONLY an elevator ride away for me) to do something I don't really want to do? Screw it, I'll just try to eat less today instead. Which by the way never works.

Sound familiar?

So how is it that despite all this, I've worked my muscles more in the last 2 weeks than I probably have all year? No I'm not hooking electrodes to my abs and letting electricity do the work for me (anyway, they'd have a fair layer of fat to get through before they hit muscle anyway). The magic answer:

I stopped exercising and started doing a sport: boxing!

"Alex you tricked me! How is that not exercise?! You're still working out, breaking a sweat and getting into shape!" I know, I know! Let me explain:

I realized while I was skiing last week that because I loved skiing and being outdoors on a mountain, I didn't think of skiing as exercising, even though every day I'd get back to the lodge tired and sore. And every morning, I was ready to get right back on the mountain for another full day of skiing. This got me thinking about how I see "exercise" and all the associations (almost all negative) I have with "exercising" or "getting to the gym" or "going running", because frankly, all that's a big pain in the ass. I mean really, who wants to run and get nowhere, or elliptical up an imaginary hill, or bike and end up in the same place? Certainly not me.

So back to how boxing, at least for the last two weeks, has solved this for me. Boxing is a kick-ass workout, I'm sore every time, and yet a couple days later I'm ready to go back (full disclaimer, I've only been thrice, so we'll see if it holds up over time, but I'm optimistic). And here's why:

1. There's a purpose: Unlike the treadmill or the elliptical, boxing has a purpose. If I'm ever in a bar fight, I will unleash previously unknown fists of fury on my opponent. Now that's probably not something to advertise, and I don't plan in being in any bar fights anytime soon, but as a guy it's nice to know how to throw and black a punch.
2. I'm learning something new: I generally like to learn for the sake of learning, and boxing has been no different. There are apparently many different types of punches you can throw, and different ways to block them, and combinations of punches, and I'm sure the list goes on into territory I haven't discovered yet. Also, there's a whole lot of balance and coordination involved with throwing a punch and stepping at the same time, not extending your arm all the way, staying centered, etc... It is actually kind of like dancing in that it takes a lot of coordination and you have to practice it until you stop thinking about it.
3. I have a trainer: The gym I go to includes semi-private lessons in the membership fee, which means that for $250 a month (gasp! I know, it's on the pricey side, but this is NY and if I actually get to the gym once or twice a week, it's completely worth it), I get direction from a trainer EVERY time I go to the gym. This means I can let someone else motivate me, tell me what punches to throw, what activity to do next, yell at me when I'm slacking off and basically let me turn off my brain while I'm training. This is probably THE SINGLE BIGGEST REASON I think I might be able to stick with this boxing thing. It's actually very cheap for a personal trainer. (quick plug, I go to Trinity Boxing Club, NY and LA locations, http://www.trinityboxing.com, their clientele is mostly corporate professionals, so you don't spar until you're ready and want to. i.e. you won't go to your desk in the morning with a black eye). Also, it's pretty fun to train with guys named Butch, Sergei and Hollywood.
4. I look badass as shit. Seriously though, you do not want to fuck with me when I've got my hands wrapped, covered in sweat, throwing punches at anything in my way. And there's a whole lot to be said for doing activities that make you feel awesome (I had a similar experience rowing crew in college, which is the ONLY time in my life I've had the true beginnings of a 6-pack, which also makes me feel like a badass). Seriously though, find anything that you do that makes you feel awesome, and I'd put money on the fact that you'll keep doing it.

So all this might be obvious to people who have done sports all their lives, and frankly I've been on sports teams most of my life (in case anyone doesn't believe me, because it even sounds wrong when I say it: soccer as a kid, basketball in middle school, track in high school, crew and ski team in college), but for some reason it clicked again that doing a sport doesn't feel like exercise. You're either playing to win or training to get better.

So, moral of the story, I'm challenging everyone reading this to find an activity that 

1. has a purpose

2. teaches you something new

3. lets someone else train you (this doesn't have to be a personal training but could be something like a hiking club or a group that trains together)

4. (and probably the most important one) makes you feel like a badass

Would love to hear your ideas in the comments section below!

Until next time, 

----Furious Fists Alex