Weight Loss Failure - Down But Not Out

A little over two years ago I started this blog about my weight loss journey. It sparkled a bit and then fell by the way side. I need to revive it.

Looking back I ran, I ate healthy, I tracked my calorie intake religiously on MyFitnessPal and the weight fell off. I ran a 5K. Then I ran a 10K, a half marathon. I went down to 275 pounds, lost to 262 pounds, 256 pounds, 249, 245, 241 and one day in 2011 I tipped the scales at 238. I had lost 57 pounds and I felt great.

Fast forward to 2013 and I was back at 281 pounds. How? I injured my ankle and knee. Life took over and depression hit. I started binge eating, staying home, lost in the throes of the Internet while my waistline bulged and I again had to abandon my "skinny" clothes for the old "fat" clothes.

Depending on who you listen t only 20% of the people who want to lose weight are successful. Oh sure, many are like me, they take it off. Like me they diet, they sweat, they promise their loved ones and themselves it will happen. Most do lose weight just like I did. We just then gain it back.

I was reading this article from Science Daily, where they list four main reasons why people fail at losing weight:

1. Underestimating Calories Consumed

2. Overestimating Activity and Calories Burned

3. Poor Timing of Meals

4. Inadequate Sleep

My weakness on this list? Number 4. 

Let's work on that one. I am going to bed. In the morning I am going to have a nice workout and a good breakfast.

Let's see where this takes us. If I am fortunate and can keep my head in the game, maybe it will turn into some permanent weight loss.

Rest Day - My Program

Today is a rest day, thank God! I have a few nicks and tweaks, ankle knee and back and I'm happy to give them a rest for a day. So because of that I thought I'd share with some of the things i'm doing to get the weight off.

The first thing I started was getting an account with www.myfitnesspal.com This is a free sight that helps you log all of your activities, especially your calorie intake. It has over 200,000 foods on file for nutrition information, including lots of foods from popular restaurants. One of he best things I have done so far has simply taken the step of keeping track of what I eat. My Fitness Pal also has good, basic articles on weight loss as well as easy-to-use-tools to determine things like how many calories is best for you to eat to keep healthy and still lose the weight you want.

My Fitness Pal is a great sight for the eating part, but I did find the physical side to be a little sketchy but then I ran across www.active.com which is the gateway to some magnificent resources on all kinds of active lifestyle subjects, including diet and exercise. Two affiliated websites are www.coolrunning.com and activetrainer.com both places I've used for their free and fee-based resources.

I really like the online training log they have. It helps me organize and record all of my training activities in an efficient and useful product.

So in short - I use My Fitness Pal for nutrition and Active for workouts. It works for me.

I also used Active to sign up for the ING Miami Marathon on Jan 28, 2012. Yes, my target is ten months away!

But for now I am down 15 pounds and my blood pressure this week has been a steady 125/71. I'll take that.