JayLoss

Is Your Health a Priority?

Posted on27. Dec, 2011 by Jay.

“If you want to succeed, as bad as you want to breath, then you can be successful.”

I enjoy listening people tell me about their goals in life and what they aspire to become and to accomplish. When I tell someone about my goals and what I’m doing to accomplish them, I feel motivated to stay strong and to keep moving forward. Telling someone you’re going to do something adds urgency and just enough peer pressure to keep you moving in the right direction.

If you want something bad enough, nothing else should get in your way.

Weight loss and physical fitness is not something to place 4th or 5th on your importance list if it’s something you’re wanting to accomplish. It deserves #1 priority in my opinion as everything you do can affect it.

1. Health & Fitness
2. Friends and Family
3. Business/Money

Is Health & Fitness at the top of your priority list? Or is it something that you focus on when you have time?

Jay,

Current Weight: 187lbs.
Calories Per Day: 2000

Blog Starting Weight: 268 lbs.
My Heaviest Weight: 336 lbs.
Blog Starting Date: Nov 2009

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Forced Weight Loss Habit

Posted on26. Oct, 2011 by Jay.

Over the years I’ve learned a lot of tips and tricks to keep motivated and moving forward with my goals. When I decided to lose weight, one of the tactics I used was what I call a forced habit.

A forced habit is something you force yourself to do.

You give yourself only one option, and there are no alternatives to derail you from the habit you’re trying to form.

For example if you want to force yourself to skip every other step of your house stairs, you could place random items on the first step of the stairs. This forces you to skip over the first step which will then remind you about the habit you’re trying to form, and since you skipped the first step the rest of the steps should be natural.

I forced this habit on myself in about three weeks. It was a chore the first couple of weeks but after that it was easy. I did this because I was bored and wanted to see if I could keep it up. Now when I see stairs I immediately want to skip the first step. I’m working on skipping every three steps, that’s a little harder.

So how do you force yourself to lose weight?

Losing weight is a little more complex then just skipping steps. Your primary focus should be on what you consume. I forced myself to lose weight by setting a limit on how many calories I could eat in a day. No matter what happened, I could not go over the amount of calories I set for myself.

This forced me to spread out my calorie intake throughout the day better so I wouldn’t be hungry. It helped me figure out which foods I could eat that kept me full longer. And I learned about different low calorie foods that kept me within my calorie allotment.

I forced myself to eat better and after only 3 weeks I formed a habit which made it easy to keep going and continue losing the weight.

And that’s pretty much how I was able to lose 150+ pounds.

Jay,
Current Weight: 190lbs.
Calories Per Day: 2500
Current Body Fat: ???

Blog Starting Weight: 268 lbs.
My Heaviest Weight: 336 lbs.
Blog Starting Date: Nov 2009

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Weight Loss with Appetite Suppressant Amino Acids

Posted on24. Aug, 2011 by Jay.

Since writing about some recent struggles in maintaining my weight, I’ve had some success with a couple amino acids I recently discovered. In my quest to research and find the right amino acids for me I met someone at the vitamin store I was visiting and he wasn’t happy that I wanted some help in suppressing my appetite. Instead he decided to lecture me about eating right and exercising, not knowing that I’ve previously lost 150+ pounds. Luckily after a few nods and smiling he decided to show me to the amino acids I was interested in.

This first one is Acetyl L-Carnitine (500mg).

Acetyl L-Carnitine is a modified amino acid that supports cellular energy production by assisting in the transport of fat into the mitochondria where it is oxidized and converted into ATP (chemical energy for the cell). Acetyl L-Carnitine is in a highly bioavailable form of L-Carnitine antioxidant effect, helps to maintain healthy cellular energy metabolism and supports brain function.

I find Acetyl L-Carnitine gives my energy, clarity and helps suppress my appetite pretty well. I tried L-Carnitine in liquid form and I found it didn’t work well for me. It would suppress my appetite for about 1 hour but after that I was really hungry. With Acetyl L-Carnitine I don’t have the side-effects of liquid L-Carnitine and it seems to work all day long. And it’s not a strong suppressant, you still feel hungry when you’re supposed it. It just seems to keep away those random moments of extreme hunger I described in  my last post.

Second is N-Acetyl Tyrosine (350 mg). 

N-acetyl L-tyrosine aids in the synthesis of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and dopamine. It is converted into key physiological compounds including epinephrine, levodopa, Coenzyme Q10, melanin and various thyroid hormones. Tyrosine is used to heighten mental alertness, increase feelings of well-being and offset physical and mental fatigue, particularly during heavy exercise. Tyrosine has an antioxidant effect, helping to protect cell membranes from the damage caused by free radical molecules.

I take N-acetyl L-Tyrosine primarily for mental energy, focus, and clarity. However I found shortly after taking N-acetyl L-Tyrosine it seemed to help with appetite control as well. I went from 191 pounds a few days ago to 189 pounds today. I’m not as hungry during the day, I can focus on other things and not on food all day long even though I practically work in my kitchen.

Please note L-Tyrosine without N-Acetyl did not effect appetite at all, in fact it may have caused food binges for me. After I stopped taking regular L-Tyrosine those binges have stopped. Also N-acetyl L-Tyrosine is not suitable for those taking MAO inhibitors. It has an enhancing effect which can be dangerous. More information on L-Tyrosine

So Acetyl L-Carnitine (500mg) and N-Acetyl Tyrosine seem to work great for me. If you’re having trouble with food cravings I highly recommend both these supplements. I hope with continued use I’ll get back to 180 pounds in 2-3 weeks. On a side note the weight you do lose is gradual. You do still feel hungry when you’re supposed to, it just makes you less hungry, especially the Acetyl L-Carnitine.  And let’s face it, you can have all the will power in the world but when extreme hunger takes over any help you can get is welcomed.

Jay,
Current Weight: 189 lbs.

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The Unknown Amino Acid Deficiency

Posted on17. Jul, 2011 by Jay.

I learned something this week. I learned that I’m deficient in certain amino acids needed to produce dopamine.

Technically I’m low in amino acids that produce dopamine and at the same time high for certain exciter amino acids that burn through dopamine at 3x times the normal speed. Meaning I have ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).

I’ve known about my ADHD for about a year now, but it was only recently that I learned that it was related to a dopamine deficiency. When that nugget of information hit me (a friend told me) I did a search for ways to increase dopamine levels in the brain and found that stimulants like caffeine, nicotine and perscription stimulants all worked. As well as cocaine, marijuana and other illegal stimulants.

However one of many bad things about stimulants is that they only treat the symptoms. They only make the body use what dopamine it has in reserves rather then produce new dopamine. So that meant at the end of the day I would crash mentally and physically exhausted (I take adderall). Not only that but they’re addicting and they have all sorts of side-effects.

Then I learned about certain amino acids like l-tyrosine and l-phenylalanine (for dopamine deficient people) work to produce dopamine in your brain. They work to bring your amino levels back to normal.

Two days after learning this information, I picked up a bottle of l-tyrosine at my local GNC and that same day I stopped using my stimulant, Adderall. It’s been 4-days now and I’m VERY happy to say I have not felt this good since discovering Adderall 7-8 months ago. I have no more ADHD, my anxiety is gone and I feel like exploring the outside world again.

A simple amino acid imbalance which caused a dopamine deficiency made me self medicate with carbs. Yes, that’s right. If you have a dopamine deficiency, you crave carbs and stimulants like caffeine, sugar and nicotine to give you that feel good feeling and a boost of energy to keep moving forward. That’s how I gained all the weight a few years ago, I was scarfing down carbs in an attempt to boost my dopamine levels. What I was doing was treating the symptoms rather then the cause of my ADHD, anxiety and depression. And of course I only made things worse for myself.

When choosing between eatings tons of carbs or Adderall to fix the problem, I’ll choose Adderall no questions. And it worked for the most part but I wasn’t getting any better due to the mental and physical crashes after around 7pm to 8pm. And my doctor wondered why I didn’t like going out after working hard all day.

Since discovering my amino acid deficiency and treating it the right way, I can say for the first time that I feel normal.

If you’re interested in learning more I recommend reading “The Edge Effect.”

For a quick overview,  read what looks to be cliff notes of the “The Edge Effect” in PDF form.

It could change your life.

Jay,
Current Weight: 182.2 lbs.
Body-Fat: 13%

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No More Lazy Jay.. Getting Back on Track

Posted on12. May, 2011 by Jay.

Okay, I have been slipping up the past six weeks or so and I can’t take it any longer. I haven’t exercised as much as I wanted to and I have been eating a lot of bad foods lately. Surprisingly I’m pretty much the same weight, currently this morning I’m 184 pounds but my body fat has increased to 13% or so and that’s no good. I stopped keeping track of what I ate in the day and I think that’s what did it. My sister (and her two kids) have been staying at my house as well and it sort of through me off track. Thankfully she got her own place the other day and she’s out of the house.

So it’s back to Monday through Friday working out (about an hour a day), and starting today I’m breaking out the old notepad and I’m going to keep track of what I eat in a day, how many calories it has and the time that I eat it. This way I can cut out the crap foods I have been eating and focus on the healthy foods. For some reason eating ice cream at 10PM is a lot harder to do when I know I have to write it down. I guess I feel that one day (since I keep the notepads), that someone is going to go back, maybe a trainer or some other professional and judge what I ate for the day. My last trainer did that to me and it made me focus on eating only healthy foods.

My goal is to get rid of the extra fat I gained and to continue working on building muscle.

I’ll post more details tomorrow.

Jay,

• Currently..
• 184 pounds
• 13%-14% bodyfat

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Losing Weight vs. Gaining Weight

Posted on17. Apr, 2011 by Jay.

Most people have trouble LOSING weight, but there are some like my sister that have trouble gaining weight. She is 25 years old, has two kids and as of this morning is 88 pounds.

A few days ago she was sick and didn’t feel like eating, she barley ate for 3-4 days saying that if she did eat she would just throw it up.

I know how to lose weight, I’ve lost 160+ pounds in a few years but gaining weight (responsibly) is something new to me. Once I reached my goal weight I had a little trouble keeping my weight but after awhile I’m at 180 pounds and holding steady. I’ve learned to eat more without overeating to keep my weight stable.

My sister’s problem is she thinks about food all the wrong way. She almost never eats breakfast, she goes 6-8 hours without eating, whenever she does eat it’s very little and half of the time her kids eat her food. Another thing is she eats a lot of junk food without knowing it.

She called me this morning looking for advice on gaining weight. I told her to keep a log of what she ate in a day. Do this for a week or two without changing her diet (yet) just to see where she was at. After that set a goal to eat a certain amount of calories in a day and stick to it. I wanted to say more but she was on break from work. I’ll see her in a few hours and I’ll let her know more about what foods to eat, like pasta, mixed nuts, bananas and whole milk.

She told me she wished she had my problem with eating too much rather then not eating enough. I can understand but it’s like going from one extreme to another. It’s like when it’s freezing outside I wish it was summer already, but then when summer is here I wish it was winter already. In reality I wish it was spring all year long.

Jay

Current Weight: 180lbs.
Calories Per Day: 3000-4000

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A Whole New Way of Thinking “The 4-Hour Work Week”

Posted on19. Jan, 2011 by Jay.

As the new year sets in I continue to think about my goals for the year and what I’m going to do differently. I picked up the book “The 4-Hour Work Week” a couple weeks ago and it has changed my thinking about life completely. Before I lived to work for the most part .. now my thinking is to work to live. It’s the same for eating. Before I would live to eat.. now I eat to live. It’s addictions really. Doing something you know is bad for you but still doing it anyway.

Working all day long and not living your life is a “waste” as a friend of mine likes to say. Life is about experiencing new things and having fun with friends and family. It’s not shutting yourself in and pushing everyone else away. Think about your life. What do you remember most? Is it working 8-hours everyday for years? Or was it that time you went camping or skiing with friends? Life is about experiences.. whether good or bad. And ‘The 4-hour Work Week’ teaches you how to work efficiently by removing time wasting activities from your life so you can instead hyper focus on what really makes you money in order to have the time to DO the things you want to do in life.

Basically for me it means no more spending hours a day on sites like Reddit or Facebook. No more wasting time on projects that won’t make me money, instead focus on what makes the money and duplicate those efforts. Then automate everything so I can spend less and less time managing and more time on what I really want to do in life.

It’s a life changer. Even if you are working for someone else, the book has great tips for everyone.

I’m about 4/5 of the way done and it seems every 10 pages or so I find myself saying.. this is genius. It’s just a whole new way of thinking.. and I love it!

Cheers,

Jay

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Accomplish Your Goals

Posted on08. Jan, 2011 by Jay.

Over these years I’ve accomplished many goals. I bought my first house. I paid off all my debt (except the house). I reached my goal weight. I wrote a new book which was a huge success. And I’ve learned a lot about myself.

If there is something I want, I find a way to get it. If there is goal I want to reach, I lay out a plan and accomplish it. There is nothing I can’t do or achieve.

Whatever your goals are for the new year, don’t put them to the side and forget about them. If you want something, take it. If you have trouble or get sidetracked along the way, don’t give up, get back on track and keep moving. Your goals are only met by you. No one else will do the work for you. You get in this world what you take.

Jay,

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Still Losing Weight…

Posted on16. Nov, 2010 by Jay.

A problem I never thought I would have.

Today I woke up at 170 pounds – a random 4-pound weight loss from a few days ago.

Looking over the calories log, yesterday I ate 2,060 calories. I could of swore I ate more then that but I haven’t been adding up my calories at the end of the day and didn’t notice.

The day before I ate 3,010 calories, so that wasn’t bad. Then the day before that I ate 2,230 calories.

Looking back even further it seems I average around 2,300 calories a day. Which isn’t enough.

I did not exercise yesterday or the day before. I DID go to Starbucks and have some Black TEA though. I had two LARGE non-sweet black teas. And since tea is a diuretic I’m sure I may have been dehydrated at the end of the day. I’m pretty sure that is the reason for the sudden weight loss this morning. At least I hope so.

I checked a quick calorie calculator and it says that in order for me to stay at 175-pounds, I need to consume 2411 calories per day.

That sounds about right to me..

So new goal is instead of eating whatever and however many calories I want in a day.. I’m going to focus on eating 2600 calories per day (since I’m working on building muscle) and stick to that for awhile.

New goal set: Daily 2600 calories a day!

Once thing I did notice is body wise I’m looking fit! The thing that I’m concerned about is face weight loss. It seems the lower my body-fat is the more it shows on my face and that’s not kosher. Lol, I have been chewing a lot of gum in an attempt to build facial muscles.. I’m hoping in a month or two I’ll see results!

Fun times..

Jay,
Current Weight: 170lbs.
Calories Per Day: 2600
Current Body Fat: 10.5%

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Foods that affect me Mentally – ADHD

Posted on05. Nov, 2010 by Jay.

As a person with ADHD I have to be very careful about what I eat because any little thing can affect me mentally and either increase ADHD symptoms or go the other way and help me out. Here are foods that I have recently notice affect me mentally.

Caffeine - This drug makes very alert for about an hour (drinking one cup of coffee) but then crashes me out after that. It nullifies any ADHD drug that I take at the time. I have since STOPPED drinking any caffeine, especially in sodas. I switched over to tea which I love but I find the caffeine in tea is just as strong and it makes me have a headache usually the next day. That and I tend to have increased heart rate and I physically shake with just with ONE cup of coffee. It affects me that much now. So I try and stay away from caffeine.

Chocolate - This is an easy one. Chocolate gives me a spike in happy good feelings for a couple minutes. But because it has caffeine in it, if I have too much chocolate in a day (more then a couple pieces) it cancels out my ADHD drug (Adderall) and I get nothing done for the day because I can’t focus. That and if I have chocolate everyday I eventually start to CRAVE chocolate. I have to have it. I don’t like that addicting feeling so I try and limit chocolate intake to every once in awhile.

Chicken Breast – I eat a lot of chicken, you guys know this. I find when I eat chicken I have that instant satisfied feeling. I am energized and ready to go. It gives a slow release of energy over 3-5 hour period. It makes me feel great and ready to do more for the day.

Fatty BBQ Food – Similar to Chicken Breast (my food staple), once in awhile I’ll have something high in fat. Usually when I have foods high in fat, like BBQ ribs or something in the pig family, it makes me feel INSTANTLY happy. Within 30 seconds of chomping down on a juice fatty rib, I feel extremely happy. If I was feeling bad earlier, I would now feel very happy. The bad thing is this sort of food is VERY addicting and not healthy for you in the long run, so I have it maybe once a month.

Salmon - My favorite fish, salmon usually affects my mood more then any other food. I eat at least half of pound of salmon when I do eat it so I get my fair share. Salmon actually helps me focus better and for long period of time, usually for 3-5 hours naturally. The high amount of omega 3 fatty acids I think does it. It’s just a natural high and I love it. I have salmon about once a week.

Nuts - Usually walnuts affects me the most. It almost has the same affects of chicken breast for me, but not as satisfying. It tends to keep me energized throughout the day as I snack on it. I stay away from nuts that have salt on them. Other then that walnuts are great.

Avocados - Wow these things are mind changing. They fill you up, stay in your system for a long time giving you a lot of energy and wow they make you feel good. They have a ton of vitamins in them, you can make a DIP out of it and more. Eating avocados is a lot like eating salmon to me. They both give out the same exact feelings, except avocados is better for you.

Processed Foods – I have noticed in general processed foods leave me feeling hungry still and actually make me feel jittery and not able to focus. This is especially true for colorful processed foods for some reason. I read the other day that foods with artificial flavors are very bad for people with ADHD, especially red 40. So I try and stay away from anything processed as a result.

Salt - I like salt, but I try and stay away from it as well. All the foods you eat already have enough salt in them. I don’t own table salt for this reason. Salt taste great sure, but I find for me it’s VERY addicting. I like the taste of salt and I CRAVE it at times. Too much salt will increase blood pressure and cause a whole host of problems for your system though. Because it’s addicting you’ll find tons of it in all processed foods, especially fast foods like McDonalds. Fast food companies do this to make you addicted to their food. That and the high fat content of fast foods which makes you feel great and make you want more and more! You see how fast food companies get you?

Orange Juice – I love orange juice. I have a cup EVERY morning. Not fake orange juice, but 100% real orange juice. It’s like taking a B vitamin shot. The quick burst of energy it gives you to wake up and feel alert is great. I have noticed no downer drinking Orange Juice every morning. It has a lot of vitamins in it, it gets you going for the day and makes me feel good.

Eggs - About every other day I will have eggs for breakfast. I usually have mushrooms and eggs or something else and eggs. I find eggs to be filling and stable enough to give me energy for several hours. It’s a good protein to eat. It has a ton of vitamins in it, it taste great. It’s a winner.

Complex Carbs – I find complex carbs make me fill full and give me energy for 1-2 hours usually. In comparison processed carbs like white bread is just a jolt of sugar that leaves me crashed in 30 minutes of so.  I stay away from white bread as a results. I only eat complex carbs and it’s like a quick release of energy that stays with you for awhile and keep you full longer. Luckily I’m not addicted to sugary carbs like some people.

These are just a few of the foods that affect me mentally. Since I started to eat better I have taken note of how foods affect me and I tend to stay away from the bad foods as a result.

My biggest food vice is chips. For some reason I love to eat Fritos or any chips really. It has all the properties that are addicting and not good for me but I love them. I have a serving or two of Fritos or any other chips brand maybe every other day. I tried health chips, but found they didn’t taste as good.

It’s a work in progress to quit.

Do you have any bad foods that you still eat to this day?

How do certain foods make you feel?

Jay,

Current Weight: 175lbs.
Blog Starting Weight: 268 lbs.
Heaviest Weight: 336 lbs.
Current Body Fat: %10.5

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