Before and After

As mentioned yesterday, I used to be 250 pounds but am now 182 pounds. The first picture to the right is of me when I was about the first weight and the second is of me now.

How did I lose the weight you ask? Well, I tried Weight Watchers many times and they did help me get rid of the last 15 pounds or so. And for that matter, they have helped me maintain the weight so far. My wife and I both have been using Weight Watchers' Core food plan since about the middle of November 2007 (right before Thanksgiving). I definitely am an advocate of the Core plan. It has made keeping the weight off easier and delicious.

I also did a lot of reading about weight loss and got a lot of good pointers from a book called "You on a diet" by Michael F. Roizen, MD, and Mehmet C. Oz, MD. It is a very informative and entertaining book.

But the people who really got me started was a company called Life Time Health. They provide a diet that puts your body into what is called ketosis (which causes you to live mostly off your fat). This really drops the pounds. But, in my mind, much more important than that is the feeling of support and friendship provided. Which helped me know that the struggles of weight loss and maintenance were and are all worth it. They also taught me that exercise is of paramount importance in gaining and maintaining a healthy weight. Diet and exercise are like a two-edged sword. Diet comes first but exercise kicks in weight loss' afterburners and really gets it going.

I believe this is because exercise increases your metabolism and causes you to burn more calories and therefore more fat.

As a matter of fact, Weight Watchers also teaches this and actually allows you to use exercise as a means of allowing you to eat more and feel more satisfied.

Let's lose weight together today!

Friends Help Friends Lose Weight

Hello and Welcome.

My motto is, "friends help friends lose weight".

Up to about a year ago, I was six foot even and 250 pounds.

With the help of a few people that I now consider friends, I am now down to 182 pounds, have a 34 inch waist and a lot more energy. Now that I've lost the weight and kept it off for about two months, my thoughts turn to how I'm going to go about keeping it off forever and how to help others achieve the same.

I am now 52 years old and in that amount of time I have discovered a few things about maintaining a healthy body profile.

• I cannot and will not ever eat the same way again. If I did, no amount of exercise would keep me from gaining back the weight
• I must continually find ways to keep myself motivated to never gain back the weight
• Wholesome, non-fattening foods can actually be appetizing and delicious

Partly for therapy and partly out of a desire to help others overcome the tyranny of food, I've decided to start this blog so I can stay motivated and so that others may find the fortitude to also stay motivated.

I have pondered for a long time how best to help others shed the pounds and keep them off. It can be a thorny issue. Our society takes a dim view of telling people to their face that they are fat and that they need help to slim down. So I thought I'd use this forum to do what I can.

I want to be a friend to any of you who would like to work together to maintain a healthy lifestyle and I ask your help so I can maintain my weight loss.

Friends help friends lose weight.

Best wishes for a healthy body weight from a recovering food addict.