I just posted a couple of photos I took yesterday. I definitely know I'll regret not knowing my exact weight when I started all this but I'd rather wait six weeks. If I'm 280 lbs right now it might discourage me & I've kicked quite a lot of arse for 18 days.

As for the book I definitely intend to look in to the issues I have with food in a few months. When I'm dieting, logging, motivated, following goals, I do fine. But when I stop dieting I just go crazy and put a bunch of weight back on. In college I fluctuated between 185 and 200 but since then I tend to lose 15 pounds, put on 20 lbs etc and gradually my weight creeps upwards. So I can't just diet & expect to maintain once I'm done. I know this now.

If I have food in the house that I like, I eat it. For example, crisps. Most days I'd just go out and buy a bag or two of crisps and eat them. Sometimes I'd buy a 100g bag and plan for it to last for a few days. Then I'd open it in the car on the way home, eat a bunch of eat, then either take it in to my apartment and finish it off or feel so disgusted with myself that I'd get out of the car and throw the remaining 30% of the bag in the bin. Or I'd buy a bag of 6 packets of crisps, again to last a week, and I'd finish them within 24 hours. Sometimes within an hour. Just no self control.

While I'm actively focused on losing weight episodes like ^^^ aren't a big issue but some day, hopefully within a year, I'll stop "dieting" ... and I need to follow the whole "lifestyle change" thing because as much I hate to admit it, that **** is true.

BTW Rusty, what's you story?

BTW thanks to everyone who posts in this thread. It's really good to know I'm being held accountable. And I appreciate the encouragement and good advice.

I'm hearing kind of a lot of "I'll do this thing I need to do... later". Today is the day to start. Don't wait for the perfect time or situation. No need to overload and work yourself to death, just start now. Read a chapter of the book. Get a scale. Log your food. And so forth.

Regarding the number - it's been a long time since I read strat stuff but I recall you were very successful with poker? I feel like I'm thinking of the same person. Did you use to have an avatar of a toothy shark, and your first name starts with a D?

What would you say to an up and coming player who refused to look at his balance after a down swing?

My story is the same as basically everyone in our approximate cohort, probably. I was skinny all through high school. In college I spent a lot of time sitting around, especially on the computer, eating a lot of crap, not getting much exercise. Then I got a job where I made good money and sat around a lot. By the time I was 28 or so I weighed 255 (I'm 6'0"). I lost weight slowly. Basically I'd lose weight for like 12-16 months, then go to maintenance (although over the next year I'd usually gain back 5-10lb) and then I'd lose weight again. I did that for, I guess, like a decade. I currently weigh 170. I was around 163 this time last year.

What basically happened was... I started at 255 aiming for like, I don't remember, say, 215. I thought that would be "normal" or "good" or whatever. I got to 215 and I was pretty happy with that so I took time off. Eventually I thought, nah, I could lose more, and aimed for 200. Rinse and repeat. I would really like to be 160, but I don't think it's possible for me to really maintain that, I think it's probably just under what I can sustain easily.

The problem for me is that I ride bikes, and there's sort of "seasons" to it, like most people after the summer I take time off and go to a much lower intensity. I tend to keep eating like I was all spring though, when I was doing 6000 calories/week of exercise, with obvious results. Then I lose weight through the fall to get back to racing weight, or try to. So I figure I'll just be 165-175 the rest of my life. That's basically my goal.

Crocodile.

Right, sorry

This 200g spinach & pine nut pasta salad I pick up now and then is 240 kcal. I could never understand how, pasta typically isn't health food, pine nuts are calorific, plus there's enough olive oil in it that's there's typically a fair bit left in the container after I've eaten the pasta. But I'd checked it multiple times and it was indeed 240 kcal. I presumed it was just like the 100 kcal chocolate mousse, one of those weird things.

This morning after eating one of them I checked against for the exact calorie count. It is indeed 240 kcal ... per 100g. Oops.

Have you tracked your weight since you started logging here? I have lost about 2.5kg since basically around the time you started. A couple of those days were actually maintenance eating and have had a big cheat day as well. I have also barely averaged 2-3 days of exercises since then. Most of my days are spent doing iso holds.

I'm not logging my weight for reasons outlined in recent posts. Anecdotally (e.g clothes) it feels like I'm a little slimmer. If I'm not getting in to a couple of pairs of jeans within two to three weeks then I know things are going wrong But, I will.

I bought a kitchen scale! No bathroom scale but I'm considering getting one soon. Maybe.

Bought a 6 inch Subway with double meat. Went for Spicy Italian over Turkey breast and ham. 720 kcal v. 360 kcal. Hmm. Didn't realise it would be that bad. Bad mistake. 360 unneccesary kcal, that's like an packet of crisps. Or a filling salad. Won't make that mistake again.

At about 1400 kcal. Will struggle to keep myself to 500kcal for the rest of the day but I'll do it. Damn Subway.

Maybe learn how to cook and stop eating out at restaurants and buying pre prepared food from the grocery store so frequently.

I actually cook very well but haven't much this month. Kitchen scales should presage an increase in cooking. Bought 1 KG skinless chicken breasts which I'll eat in the next few days.

My appetite is noticeably smaller than a month ago. Is this psychological (used to eating less) or physical (stomach is getting smaller)?

your stomach is pretty tiny and not getting any smaller

But you do get used to eating less, in the same way that you can get used to eating more. It will start to feel "normal" and soon enough you just automatically eat 2 pieces of pizza instead of 3 or 4, etc. It takes just as short of a period of time to get back into eating a lot though.

Not finishing the entire pizza is impossible, I'm sure there are studies to prove this.

I think him knowing how to cook really well is actually the problem. People using goose fat know how damn good it is even with all the calories.

People who don't cook well are easier to satisfy because basic recipes are better than anything they expected and healthy to boot.

Learning to substitute something with half the calories for like 80-90% of the taste is what needs to happen.

The only time I have pizza left is when I order Papa John's buy two large pizzas for $9.99.

In that case check out cruzin's thread. Wookie and I posted several delicious cutting food recipe links that can be prepared in bulk and enjoyed throughout the week in that thread.

Alright apple + 400 kcal dinner has me at ~1900 kcal. Will snack on something if I get hungry. Wish I had those 360 kcal to play

Walked an hour today btw. Plan for tomorrow is to do some muscle work, steam a couple of chicken breasts and eat them some veggies and a little balsamic vinegar and eat enough clean food to get me to 1900 kcal.

Originally said I'd allow myself to eat crisps on the last day of each month but now I'm reconsidering. I don't miss them that much and I want to get my days without crisps up to a really large number. Also pork scratching, prawn crackers etc. count as crisps. Nuts do too although as part of an energy bar (if say I go on a long bike ride) or part of a balanced meal they are fine. If you remove all the crisps / crisps substitutes I've eaten over the past few years and did nothing else I'd be at most 185 lbs. Which means once I get down to 170 lbs (which I will) I can actually eat a lot of the crap that I used to and stay below 175 as long as I keep the crisps to a very occasional treat. Which is good since I'd definitely enjoy the odd pizza or chinese food or beers (not that I ever had much of these, pretty much all of my extra weight is due to crisps!).

Days without crisps: nineteen.

Happy?

That looks terrible.

Alright I've bowed to pressure and common sense and I'll weigh myself on the 1st of July. Fun.

And that's what steamed chicken breast looks like darling.

I know that's what it looks like. I've eaten ~2kg of chicken this week.

However, I seriously doubt that's what crashjr meant by learn to cook.

Thai beetroot soup (absolutely incredible hot or chilled)



Sous vide octopus with pickled daikon and couscous



Roast chicken





Boneless chicken with sweet potato stuffing









Sous vide osso bucco on some sort of risotto



Home grown tomatoes home grown peppers, home made salsa Mexican food









Roasted acorn squash topped with chicken risotto



Sushi





Figs roasted in balsamic sugar with mascarpone, almond flakes and lemon zest

some nice looking stuff, sous vide octopus especially(just ordered the anova and really look forward to trying that out ).
most of the chicken looks very meh though(for roast chicken I recommend just looking into heston blumenthal method which is really simple but absolutely outstanding with super crispy skin and very juicy breast with other parts not being undercooked)

That's the kind of noms I'm talkin' bout!