The Avoirdupois Problem

Avoirdupois

Noun

• S: (n) avoirdupois, avoirdupois weight (a system of weights based on the 16-ounce pound (or 7,000 grains))
• S: (n) fatness, fat, blubber, avoirdupois (excess bodily weight) "she disliked avoirdupois in herself as well as in others"

 A lot my bloggy friends are working on weight-loss as well as running... today  James declared war on his 'food addiction'. It's been a couple of years since I went through this (and I wasn't blogging then).

I thought I'd share what worked for me:

• I ate smaller portions...I would stop eating when still a bit hungry.
• Eat slower, enjoy each bite and let your body tell you it's getting full (my family is from the "wolf it all down before somebody takes it away" camp 8)
• Use fresh herbs and spices rather than fats to make food interesting.
• I stopped eating so much dairy fat. No sour cream, no major dumping of cheese on pasta, etc.
• I would have a good (but not fatty) breakfast, but go easy on lunch.
• It became quite addictive to seeing the lbs come off and the running get easier.
  Helped me through the really hungry patches.
• Eating out...no bread for me, no starter (or share..or salad), no dessert or share one.
• I started eating more fish, shellfish and chicken rather than beef. Try to eat only lean cuts of beef (grass fed).
• It helped to have the support of my spouse, Toni. She was willing to put up with some of my cooking 'experiments'. 8)

After doing this for a while, I got used to being a bit hungry all the time and my stomach shrunk way down and got full sooner. 

I was very very gradually upping my mileage, so eventually I was losing about 1 lb a week, sometimes more. 

As you get closer to your ideal weight it the loss rate slows and your body seems to tell you where you belong.

me in 2006...

In my case I had gotten up to 228 lbs (I'm 6' 1" tall and the fat is spread all over..not in a big belly so nobody thought I was that fat, but it was really killing me)

My natural weight seems to be about 170 lbs, but I could probably stand to lose another 8-10 lbs if I want to run my fastest marathon time. 

Here's before and after shots..I wish I had done a better job of photographically documenting my weight loss...(just to remind me of how crappy I felt back then)....

me in 2009..airborne!

At this point, I feel I have this thing under control and I'll never go back to being overweight. If I couldn't run, I'd bike or swim, and if I couldn't do that I'd just have to eat less.

These days I don't even really need a scale to tell me what's going on...I can just pinch the fat layer on my stomach and tell if I'm up a pound or two..that tells me time to cut back the portions for a couple of days.

Good luck to all of you! 

Get it done!

PS: How many of you know how to pronouce "Avoirdupois" ?


I only know this word because my mother used to say "Move your avoirdupois! " when she wanted to get us off the couch 8)