JayLoss

Healthy Diet & Regular Exercise

Posted on07. Nov, 2011 by Jay.

I’m officially back on track with a healthy diet and regular exercise!

I’m still stuck at 190lbs but the good news is I stopped gaining weight and sort of leveled off.

What I had to do was lower my calorie intake to 2000 calories a day from 3000+ I was used to eating. Once I did that I stopped gaining the weight and as long as I’m REALLY strict with my diet, I’m slowly losing again.

On another positive note I feel that I’m actually gaining muscle at a faster pace.

If you’re a regular reader of the blog you know I like to try new supplements every once in awhile. Well I found a supplement that helps with muscle growth and I’m happy to say I believe it’s working.

I’ll know more in a couple months but I do feel it’s working for me. I’ve definitely gained over the past year, much slower then I would have liked but I’ve gained. With the help of this new supplement I feel more pumped up then usual after a workout. I’m excited to see the results in a couple more months!

So the diet is back on (I formed a habit once again) and I’m gaining muscle at a faster pace. I think that’s some progress!

Jay,
Current Weight: 190lbs.
Calories Per Day: 2000
Current Body Fat: 14%

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

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The Unrelenting Craving for More

Posted on21. Aug, 2011 by Jay.

Imagine having a strong craving for your favorite food in the world, maybe it’s chocolate ice cream, a big bag of Doritos or even pizza. This is no regular craving that you can put off either. Imagine the strongest craving for food you’ve ever had in your lifetime and then multiple that by five! You can’t say no to the craving, your life revolves around trying to satisfy this deep hunger at all costs.

Now imagine caving into this hunger and stuffing your face to no end. You eat until your gut is hurting with pain. A craving so powerful that you forget about your goals and continue eating because no matter how much you eat, you hunger for more.

Has anyone else felt this way before? 

I had an advantage with my weight loss from around 200 pounds to my goal weight of 170 pounds. I was on Adderall (an ADHD drug), and one of the side effects of Adderall is that it’s a strong appetite suppressant.

Coming off that drug a month ago I lost that advantage and the hunger I described above took hold of me for a period of time. I was able to eat whatever I wanted before because Adderall kept me in check not allowing me to go overboard. However off the drug I feel it’s A LOT harder to stay disciplined and to say I’m full.

Before I would have to force myself to eat, I kept a log to make sure I ate every few hours. Now things are flipped the other way around. I keeping a log to make sure I don’t eat too many calories in a day same as before I started taking Adderall.

I’ve experienced both worlds in being constantly hungry and never hungry. It was fun being that person who wasn’t hungry every hour of the day. I learned to cope with it very well and when I did feel like having a high calorie snack I could eat without feeling bad about it. Now I feel like that craving for that favorite snack is happening all day long.

I’m a little concerned in the short run but I know in the long run I will be back to structured and healthy eating  habit. Going back on Adderall is not an option either. I have replaced Adderall with amino acids and vitamins and mentally I feel better then ever.

In the short run I’ve gained a little weight, I’m currently 191 pounds and slowly inching higher unfortunately. I feel I may reach 200 lbs before taking charge once again and settling at 180 pounds.

The good news is I’m working out more these days, I’m actually in my garage working out and writing this at the same time.

Hopefully I can get my food cravings in check sooner rather then later.

Food Cravings & What they Mean

Do you crave foods sometimes? What do you do to get passed it? I find if I focus on eating high protein foods, I get plenty of exercise and if I stay away from sweets I can do okay. The moment I get near sweets (chocolate), my mind craves more.

Jay,
Current Weight: 191 lbs.

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Maintained For Year! 180-Pounds!

Posted on04. Jul, 2011 by Jay.

Woah! It’s been almost a year since I reached 180 pounds! It was July, 2010 when I first reached 180, it took me 9 months to go from 268 pounds to 180 pounds, that’s crazy thinking back on it. I was a machine!

Lost 4 Pounds in 5 Days – July, 2010

And previously, a couple years before that my highest recorded weight was 336 pounds! Now I’m about half that weight!

The coolest thing about losing all the weight and maintaining is the fact that I can actually buy clothes from anywhere. I’m not limited in where I can shop or what I can buy anymore. Just the other day I bought some new shorts. I’m shopping in the 34-36 inch range for shorts where mentally I still feel I don’t belong but that’s where I’m at, and it’s great.

Another cool thing about maintaining is I don’t count calories anymore. I sort of got out of the habit after my nieces started to use my notepad as a drawing pad. Anyhow it’s something I don’t have do anymore. I can eat more calories because I’m not trying to lose anymore weight. I do however weigh myself every other day to make sure I’m staying within a certain weight range. I like to stay between 175 pounds to 185 pounds.

The thing I’m trying to get across is the process of losing the weight is the hard part, but once you do it, maintaining is not bad at all. The only people who have trouble maintaining are those who lose the weight by starving themselves. They lost muscle and water weight instead of fat. If you lose weight the right way, then you will naturally know how to maintain.

1. I eat between 2000 to 3000 calories in a day.
2. I drink only water, some 100% juices and protein shakes.
3. I don’t drink soda, coffee, tea, any fake juices, etc.
4. I eat 5-7 times a day, mostly snacking
5. Breakfast is my biggest meal of the day, followed by lunch then dinner
6. At every meal I have a mix of protein and complex carbs
7. I stay away from sweets for the most part but I’m still addicted to salty foods (Fritos)
8. I mostly eat whole foods, I try to stay way from processed foods
9. I cook my own food 85% of the time
10. I sometimes eat fast foods, maybe once a week, however I eat Quiznos subs maybe 2-3 times a week (they’re tasty!)

Basically I’m doing exactly what I did to lose the weight, except now instead of focusing on a restricted calorie intake (1500 calories in a day), I eat between 2000 to 3000 in a day. That’s the only difference.

And I love it!

Jay,
Current Weight: 182 lbs.
Body-Fat: 13%

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Maintaining (173lbs and a SOLID 34-waist!)

Posted on26. Oct, 2010 by Jay.

It’s been over a month since my last real blog post (sorry) and during this time I have been in maintenance mode. My goal has been to stay at the same weight and continue to workout.

Well I’m happy to say I’m pretty much at the same weight. I weighed myself this morning and I’m 173 pounds. Just a couple pounds lower then last time.

The cool thing is my waist size has decreased to size 34!!!

My size 36′ pants were becoming too large so I downgraded to size 34′ and bought four new pairs of pants the other day. I’m very happy about that. I don’t remember the last time I was size 34′. Maybe when I was in middle school!

I haven’t been watching my body fat, but I’m guessing its in the 12% to 13% range. It’s not a big concern for me right now.

My goal is to focus more on building muscle. I have been working out every other day pretty hard to work on that. There was a period a couple weeks back where I didn’t workout for almost two weeks (I told myself I was crazy busy and didn’t have time for workouts). Everyone has time for it, they just don’t want to believe they do.

Anyway since I’m out of that slump I have been working out every other day. I want to up that to five days a week, taking the weekends off and just workout hard!

I think changing things up and lifting heavier along with eating more (I eat a lot), I can increase muscle mass.

Oh and I eat a lot!

I eat on average 2500-3000 calories a day and sometimes more. I eat so much I’m running out of food twice as fast and have to eat out sometimes.

Protein is my bread and butter. I love certain carbs but protein keeps me going.

So that’s an update to how things are going.

Should I post new pictures? My hair is twice as long as last time.

Jay,
Current Weight: 173lbs.
Blog Starting Weight: 268 lbs.
Heaviest Weight: 336 lbs.
Current Body Fat: ??

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Reader Comment (thanks!)

Posted on17. Oct, 2010 by Jay.

Long time no see.

I found an excuse to write a new blog post today.

An avid reader of the blog sent me this email this morning. Hopefully she doesn’t mind me posting it here.

So I found your blog online a few months back after searching for tips on weight loss. I was pretty much in the same boat as you. I had no idea how to go about loosing the weight and after reading your blog it all made sense.
Your blog inspired me loads so I made a point of reading a page everyday, more so when I felt like quiting.
after 5 months ive hit my target weight and I know it sounds silly but I feel like you played a role in it, so I just want to say thank you for blogging!
Well done on your lose, you look really great.

It’s these types of emails I really like.

It reminds me of situation I was in right before I started this blog. I used to go to this grocery store all the time when I was 336+ pounds and some of the employees there started to get to know me.

Anyway so I move away and don’t go back to the store until two years later. I think I had some pick up something for a Bar-B-Q I was heading to.

So at checkout, the guy at the cash register recognized me from a couple years back (I didn’t remember him) and noticed I dropped a good amount of weight. At that time I was in the 260s.

He was very positive and congratulating (making me feel good).

He was a big guy as well and wanted to know how I lost the weight.

I was 336+ pounds the last time he saw me, so I lost a good 70+ pounds at that time.

Anyway I gave the guy some quick tips and advice but I felt it wasn’t enough and I wanted to help him out more.

Well that bump in was a MAJOR reason why I created this blog in the first place. If it was for that guy, I don’t think I would have spent all those months typing away and posting about my goals.

I wanted something to give people who wanted help losing weight after watching me do it. I wanted something they could follow and learn from to quickly get on the right track. I know for years I struggled with losing weight. I wanted it to happen, but I simply didn’t know where or how to start. It wasn’t until I started talking to people and researching online that I figured out how to do things the right way.

So congratulations Cat and thank you very much for your email.

I’m happy JayLoss was able to help you in some small way reach your weight loss goal(s).

Have a good one,

Jay

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Body Fat Goal Not Reached

Posted on11. Sep, 2010 by Jay.

I set a goal awhile back of reaching 8% body fat by September 12th, 2010. It was a three month challenge, in which I had a starting body fat of 15 percent!

I made it all the way down to 9.9% body fat, but then I couldn’t stick to it. Basically what I found was as I was losing weight, my body fat percentage would go down as a result. Makes sense right? I would watch my calorie intake like a hawk, and make sure to get the proper exercise in throughout the week and it worked out great. I felt I could of reached 8% body fat, but then I would over shoot my weight loss goal of 175-pounds, which I didn’t want to do.

Once I reached my goal weight, losing anymore wasn’t an option.

At 175 I feel I’m where I should be and as such I want to maintain and build muscle at around this level. That means eating more, and lifting heavier.

What I really want to do is continue losing body fat, while increasing muscle mass all while staying in the 175 range… I here that’s pretty hard to do though and not very efficient.

I can lose weight and body-fat easily, that’s not a problem.

Gaining muscle on the other is more intensive, and slower process I fear. It could take 3-6 months just to gain a few pounds of muscle from what I’ve been reading. Then after you do that, you have to work on losing the extra body-fat built up.

I think I have some reading to do on proper bulking up recommendations.

By the way since coming down from 268-pounds to my today weight of 175, I have gained muscle. Actually I can lift about 1/3 more then what I used to be able to do. So in the processes of losing weight, it is possible to gain muscle at the same time. I never had a problem gaining muscle, it’s just the snail pace of gaining that irks me. And no, drugs are not an option for me.

An update!

Jay,
Current Weight: 175.5lbs.
Blog Starting Weight: 268 lbs.
Heaviest Weight: 336 lbs.
Current Body Fat: 11.3%

P.S. Look at this BS!

This is NO WAY, that in three months this guy gained that much muscle, while lowering his body fat percentage. That should have taken 6-12 month at least!

Bah!

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Goal Weight Reached – I’m Done!

Posted on22. Aug, 2010 by Jay.

A few days ago I reached my goal weight of 175 pounds!

To be exact I came in at 175.5 pounds, which is close enough. Today I’m at 177 pounds and I’m happy to stay within the 175 to 185 pound range as I work on lowering my body fat and building muscle. I think that’s a healthy range to stay in. As of now I’m at 10.3% body fat and I’m slowly going down.

I have increased my calories from around 1600 per day, to 2500 per day to make sure I don’t lose anymore weight. I have been slacking off at the gym this week. I have only been two or three times I do believe. I’m wanting to go today to train for the half-marathon, but I’m not sure if I’m up to it.

So my long term weight loss goal is complete!

I don’t plan on losing any more weight. Funny enough I’ll most likely gain weight as I focus more on building muscle. Though I’ll make sure to keep an eye on my body fat percentage in the long run.

I haven’t committed to running the half-marathon yet. I have a couple concerns with it before I say yes or no. First off I suck at running for the most part. I can run fine, but it’s not what I focus on at all when I’m at the gym. The LONGEST distance I’ve traveled running is maybe 1.5 miles non-stop. I have never attempted to run further then that.

Two as I don’t want to lose anymore weight, and I’m attempting to gain muscle, I think running will be counter productive to that. If running will help me in other ways, as in lower my body fat then I might have to say yes to it and focus on building muscle until after the half-marathon.

I’m in a fork in the road right now and I don’t know which path to take just yet.

By the way the reason this decision is so hard for me is once I say I’m going to do something, I do it. There is no going back unless I can’t help it.

Well, that’s a quick update. My long term goal and the entire reason this blog was created is now complete! I lost a total of 91-pounds in 9 in a half months.

Now I can go pig out on some ice-cream, Lol.

By the way to see some pictures of where I’ve come from and where I am at now, check out this post.

Jay,
Current Weight: 177 lbs.
Blog Starting Weight: 268 lbs.
Heaviest Weight: 336 lbs.
Current Body Fat: 10.1%
Goal Body Fat: 8%

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Body-Fat Down and Goals

Posted on30. Jul, 2010 by Jay.

Yesterday my trainer decided to weigh me and get my body-fat percentage.

Well, two months ago the scale read 194 pounds and 16% body fat.

Yesterday it read 184 pounds and 11% body fat!

That’s pretty awesome, especially considering I ate a large breakfast and drank a lot of water a few hours before the weigh in. I know measuring body fat isn’t very accurate, but it’s still nice to see a general move in the right direction.

As for my own body-fat measuring with OMRON, I haven’t used it for awhile so I’m not exactly sure where I’m at, but the last time it read 13% body fat, which was a little over a week ago.

So that’s good news.

Right now I have a short term goal of reaching 175 pounds and a long term goal of getting down to 8% body-fat. Once I reach 175 pounds I want to use that as my base and build from there. It’s amazing the changes I’ve gone through in this short amount of time. From weighing 268 pounds 8-9 months ago, to 183 pounds today. From going to to a size 46-inch pants to 34-inch and from a XXXL shirt to just a Large. Not only the physical changes but I have gone through a lot of mental changes as well that will hopefully stick with me for life.

I tell you what though, once I reach 175-pounds, I’m going to enjoy eating more to bulk up. Of course I won’t pig out, but I will enjoy the extra 500-1000 calories in a day to maintain.

Jay,
Current Weight: 183 lbs.
Goal Weight: 175 lbs.
Heaviest Weight: 336 lbs.
Current Body Fat: 13%??
Goal Body Fat: 8%

P.S. That steak looks tasty right? I think I found what I’m going to have tonight.

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Lost 4 Pounds in 5 Days

Posted on27. Jul, 2010 by Jay.

Time files and too many days pass before a new post is out, sorry!

I think I’m just going to write new blog posts in advance and schedule their release to prevent dry spills like this from happening. I hear that’s what the pro-bloggers do.

So today I woke up at 180.0 pounds.

I lost four pounds in five days?

Now I know that sounds like a lot, but you have to remember I stayed the same weight (190-185 pounds) for at least a month before I wanted to continue and lose 10 more pounds. I see it like a water pipe building up pressure.. after awhile you have enough pressure for a quick drop, but then things slow down and go back to normal. Make sense?

The crappy thing about it is my pants are again too big on me! I just bought these pants (which I like a lot) 3-4 weeks ago and they are getting too baggy on me.

Lol, I probably sound awful to the people who are having a hard time losing weight. Well, if that’s you be sure to read my professionally written blog post, ‘I is a Weight Loss Exert!‘. I can lose weight easily, it’s all a matter of good planing and sticking to your goals. Read it and follow it and you’ll lose weight.

It should be interesting once I switch things up and change my goals to gain weight (muscle). From my thoughts on gaining muscle it’s still about what you eat, but you just have to eat more. More proteins and healthy foods, and lifting heavy with less reps.

That’s a quick update! I think I’m going to spend a day a week from now on and write out 3-5 posts and schedule their release. They probably won’t be as personable, but they’ll be something.

Jay,
Current Weight: 180 lbs.
Goal Weight: 175 lbs.
Heaviest Weight: 336 lbs.
Current Body Fat: ??
Goal Body Fat: 8%

Geez.. I’ve lost 156 pounds in the span of 2-3 years… that’s crazy…

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New Goal: Reach 175 Pounds

Posted on22. Jul, 2010 by Jay.

Okay, another goal to add to the list.. I want to reach 175 pounds!

Currently I’m at 184 pounds and I’ve been at this weight for about a month. I want to reach 175 pounds and hold that weight for a few weeks to see how things are. At 184ish I feel I still have more weight to lose and I’m sure it’ll help with the fat loss goal I’m working on.

How I’ll do it?

• Daily calorie intake (counting calories): 1500 calories/day
• Exercise Level (moderate): 4-6 times a week

Easy right? I think it’ll be easy to reach 175 pounds.. I haven’t had a weight loss goal in awhile so it should be fun. It should take 1-2 months to reach 175 pounds… it’s only 9 pounds so no big deal right? We’ll see…

Jay,
Current Weight: 184 lbs.
Goal Weight: 175 lbs.
Heaviest Weight: 336 lbs.
Current Body Fat: ??
Goal Body Fat: 8%

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