Weight Loss 4,000

If you've been following my blog (and if my comment section is any indication, no one is), you might remember a post I made back in May about my weight loss goal.  If you don't remember, and you're too lazy to click on the link and read that post, I stated the following:

As of right now [this was on May 2nd], I am down to 172 pounds...

...I still have a bit of a gut, so I still want to lose more weight. My goal is to get down to 155 by the end of the summer. I don't know if it's realistic or not, but I'll be happy if I can get close.

Well, being since today marks the official end of summer, I just thought I'd check in with my current weight.  I am down to 162 pounds, and even though it's not exactly where I want to be, I'm pretty happy to be where I'm at.  I have a long way to go though and I keep telling myself that too.

Now, I don't mean I have a long way to go in terms of my weight loss goal.  I'm pretty close on that.  What I mean is that staying in shape isn't something you accomplish once and then go back to being out of shape.  It's not something you cross off your bucket list and then go back to not exercising and eating whatever the hell you want all of the time.  If it's important to you, it's something that you have to work at your whole life. I plan on living for a very long time, so I still have a long way to go.

Some of you might be wondering what I'm doing to lose weight.  Well, here's my diet and exercise regimen:

Diet

I eat pretty much the same things every day for breakfast and lunch.  One of my biggest problems is that I'm a very picky eater, but it is also a strength in this case.  Since I don't like very many things, I don't really ever get tired of the things that I do like.  For breakfast, I have a bowl of cereal (usually either Kix, Cheerios or Apple Jacks) with 2% milk, a banana and a glass of orange juice.  In between breakfast and lunch, I usually eat an energy bar that is about 150 calories or so.  For lunch, I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, either an apple or some grapes, an ounce of mozzarella string cheese and sometimes either pretzels or tortilla chips.  In between lunch and dinner, I always eat a protein bar and sometimes a handful of peanuts if I'm really hungry.

Dinner is always a wild card for me, but I almost always have a baked potatoes and either green beans or corn (because those are the only vegetables that I like).  Meat-wise, I eat chicken, pork chops, beef/pork roast, steak and hot dogs. Not all in one night of course, only one meat at a time (that's what she said?).  I also sometimes eat spaghetti and lasagna (again, on separate occasions).  After dinner, if I'm hungry, I sometimes eat some pretzels, a handful of peanuts or a fruit of some sort (like a banana, an apple or some grapes).  Oh, and once a week, I cheat on my so called diet and order a pizza, go out to a restaurant or do fast food.  I pretty much eat whatever I want though, I just have to limit myself on the amount that I consume and restrict myself to eating "bad" once a week.  It's not perfect, but it seems to be working pretty well for me so far.

Exercise

I started out, back in December of 2009, doing an easy program on the treadmill one time a day for 20 minutes (the program only went 4.5 MPH and was on a 1.5 incline).  In January of 2010, I did that same easy program once a day for 20 minuets.  In February, I did that same easy program and added another more difficult 30 minute program (the more difficult program went as fast as 6 MPH and the incline varied from 1.5 to 8.0).  In March, I started lifting weights with my dad twice a week and running on the treadmill, doing those same two programs, on my non-lifting days.  In April, I got one of those exercise balls and did that on occasion, although I don't do that much anymore (it just wasn't my thing).  In May and throughout the summer, I swam at least once a week in addition to everything else.

In June, I bought a set of those resistance tubes, which came with a DVD, and I added that to my weekly routine.  In July, my grandma and I bought an exercise bike and I replaced one of my two treadmill runs with a ride on that.  At the end of August, I started jogging outside once or twice a day, along with all of the other things that I do.  I don't know how long I'll be able to jog because winter is coming soon.  I don't mind running on the treadmill and riding the exercise bike once each a day, but I would hate doing it more than that.  I really enjoy the jogging, even though I don't go too fast, because it seems to curb my appetite after lunch and after dinner.  I guess I'll have to figure out what I'm going to do once the cold (and snow/ice) finally curtails my jogging.

My new goal is to stay around my current weight throughout the fall and winter.  It will be impossible to do any more exercising than I'm doing now because of the coming seasons.  In fact, I I'll probably be doing less exercising because I won't be able to go outside and jog anymore. I'll also be cooped up in the house a lot more, so the temptation of readily available food will be all around me.  Anyway, I'll check back in at the end of winter/beginning of spring to tell you, the non-existent reader, how I'm doing.  Until then, you stay classy, San Diego.