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The ebb and flow of body weight.


Dottleshead

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50 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Sweet!  If you can lose five pounds a month (roughly 1 lbs/week), you will be down where you want to be in a reasonable and healthy amount of time.  This 15 is a great start, but the next 15 or 35 or whatever will take a little longer but will be just as exciting.

Good luck!

Tom

Thanks Tom.  I think you are absolutely are correct.  My body is going to fight me. It will resist change.   The first 10 or 15 lbs are the easiest.  The rest will come off but I know the rate will slow.  That's OK. If I can drop another 45 lbs by next June  (I'll be happy with 30) I'll be elated.  I am fortunate I have experience in the past to draw from so I know it can be done.

 

So far, it's been an inconvenient to a degree (it's work) but in general it's not as hard as I feared.

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35 minutes ago, petitepedal said:

Great job Dottie. :cheerleader:  you might want to add a little weight workout..wait and see what the doc says...but muscle is more efficient a burning up those calories...You rock Mr.

I may incorporate some weight training in the deal (mainly because of these damn statins) sometime in the future.  I really want to get off the statins and a total cholesterol score of 150 garauntees I am not accumulating any more plaque. And one needs to be careful lifting weights.  Burning calories in the gym lifting them can jettison your appetite into stratospheric levels.  I'm losing more and stabilizing before I am ready to deal with that. And cardiovascular activities far outweigh any weight lifting endeavors.  I may not look as hot -- bummer for my wife -- but weight and strength training exercises don't get the priority in my book.

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Well...if you decide to hit the weights...I strongly suggest a "real" trainer....at least for a few sessions to help you get the form right and build a routine you can live with...and that doesn't necessarily mean big weights and the Arnold kind of thing... 

I know I am repeating myself..but the best $$$$ I spent last year...the trainer :nodhead:  I haven't lost a lot of weight..but my shape has changed...and I got me some muscles...and I did not mess up or injure myself getting there...  As a matter of fact until the effin shingles...I was not sick at all alst winter...exhausted some days (post workout) but not sick....

You will do your thing and make it work!!!  That is what we all have to do!!

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On 7/23/2018 at 12:06 AM, petitepedal said:

The more I eat healthy...the less I want things like fast food or doughnuts..

I ate an Amish donut in the middle of my ride yesterday. I had a donut in June on my way out kayaking/fishing. My wife says anything in moderation is ok. The Amish donut made by Mrs. Yoder was a lot better than the Krispy Kreme donut from Sheetz.

I’ve been eating a ton of sweet corn and tomatoes, I have a bumper crop this year.

 

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After about 6 weeks of cutting way back on carb intake, I spent those 6 weeks curtailing my food intake and stopping the slow but morally disheartening rise in slow weight gain.  I did it with serving control and cutting down hard on carbs.  I stayed away from empty calorie foods and cut way back on my sugar.  Well, today, while I'm continuing to hold the line on the sugar/carb foods, I've cut way back on processed foods.  I've also now given up meat (for heart condition) and replaced that with veggies. In the last 6 weeks I've seen my weight drop 15 pounds. Well today I got on the scale and lost yet another pound.  I'm telling you, this stuff works.  I have done this all through diet alone.  I have yet to incorporate a more active exercise program.  Cut out drinking, cut out or greatly reduce your sugar/carb intake, and eat healthy, simple foods like real fruit smoothies and vegetable dishes. I also drink small low sugar protein shakes I buy from Costco to help ensure I get my protein and other multiivitamins.

 

I realize the above may sound redundant from my other posts but the weight now is falling off.  I'm losing it about a pound every 2-3 days.  For a fat guy who was a walking heart attack, this is indeed good news.  And the way I'm doing it is not rocket science.  It's well documented in all the health manuals.  When you're serious about losing weight, there is a way out. 

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This is really fantastic.  I'm not trying to jeopardize your pathway, but I'd suggest slowing down a little on the losing.  The rebound effect when you slip a little can be very real.  You didn't get overweight in 6 weeks, you don't need to lose it in 6 weeks.  I've lost about 65 - 70 pounds over the past 5 or 8 years.  I don't really document or remember a lot of it.  I was at 250ish, I'm not 18i0sh.   Again, it took me years.  I've seen a few people lose a lot of weight, then put on more than they started at.  I've seen people have bypass surgery only to fins ways to get the calories in and gain the weight back.

You plan sounds solid, but it's so easy to give in to temptation.  Keep refining and slowly keep losing.

Can I ask, how tall, how old, and what do you weigh? 

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7 hours ago, Square Wheels said:

This is really fantastic.  I'm not trying to jeopardize your pathway, but I'd suggest slowing down a little on the losing.  The rebound effect when you slip a little can be very real.  You didn't get overweight in 6 weeks, you don't need to lose it in 6 weeks.  I've lost about 65 - 70 pounds over the past 5 or 8 years.  I don't really document or remember a lot of it.  I was at 250ish, I'm not 18i0sh.   Again, it took me years.  I've seen a few people lose a lot of weight, then put on more than they started at.  I've seen people have bypass surgery only to fins ways to get the calories in and gain the weight back.

You plan sounds solid, but it's so easy to give in to temptation.  Keep refining and slowly keep losing.

Can I ask, how tall, how old, and what do you weigh? 

I actually agree with you.  I am working to lose a couple more pounds and then I'm going to ease up on the throttle.  I don't want to recoil.  But I was diagnosed with CAD -- a score almost double the high risk so I don't have a luxury of not making it.  My health and arguably my life depends on it.  It's amazing what you can do when your back is up against the wall.

By BMI standards I'm obese.  I'm 6'1" and 51.  I'll leave my weight out of it for now. But I will tell you I need to lose another 50 or more.  

A couple more pounds and I go into stabilizing mode.

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4 hours ago, Dottles said:

 

By BMI standards I'm obese.  I'm 6'1" and 51.  I'll leave my weight out of it for now. But I will tell you I need to lose another 50 or more.  

How far to the "overweight" category?  That will be a great milestone. :)  It was my mission to avoid crossing the line and I turned it around just in time. Whew!  I have gotten the slow thing licked!  Sort of like I kicked anorexia's ass! :D  I have done aboot 12 pounds in eight months.  Agonizingly slow at times and amazingly hard but the best part is I feel GREAT!  And I will feel FANTASTIC when I lose much more of the belly fat.  It is amazing how easy it is to fall off the wagon, and I find daily weighing helps to nip that in the bud since I do not want to give up this hard-earned progress.

Petite has a great point aboot doing at least a tad of weight lifting to build some of that calorie-eating muscle!  And a little muscle tone never hurts.

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Also, stomach's like to send messages to your brain that they are hungry... when in fact they aren't really that hungry.  They send 'em out whenever they don't get the frequency or volume they are accustomed too.  Well, stomach's are also stupid.  I could be lost out in the wilderness for 4-5 days and be in satisfactory condition.  My point is, don't listen to your stomach all the time.  It lies to you.  An example of this is when we went to dinner last night.  We were at Thai restaurant and I ordered fresh rice paper rolls.  My wife and I each got a dish and it came with 2 rolls cut in half.  The old Dot would have eaten this appetizer dish and launched into and knocked out at least 1 of  2 other crappy-for-your-health dishes. But after finishing the rolls, I literally was full and remember thinking, "It wasn't too long ago I would have fired through these rolls and on to others."  Well 60+ days later, I'm also sickened about the amount of food I could down.  Lesson?  If I'm eating a lot of food, I don't need to be eating a lot of food -- regardless of how my stomach wants to bitch and shout about it.

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45 minutes ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Effing stomach bastards!  I need to read MindlessEating but my liberry doesn't have it.  But I have managed to cut waay back on that.

Yeah. Honestly as the end of the day winds down and I sit in front of my computer or telly, chips 'pop' into my head a lot.

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20 years ago I got into very good shape, lost a lot of weight, I think around 20 pounds, and built some muscle.

But that's not what I came to talk about.

When I would get hungry, but I knew I had eaten enough, I would exercise, go for run, toss some iron, crunches, something hard for maybe 20 minutes. After the exercise I was never hungry.  

As we age the exercise part becomes a tricky edge to follow, just a bit too much can strain something and you lose, rather than gain ground.

Everything was easier 20 years ago... 

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On 8/13/2018 at 4:42 PM, Further said:

20 years ago I got into very good shape, lost a lot of weight, I think around 20 pounds, and built some muscle.

But that's not what I came to talk about.

When I would get hungry, but I knew I had eaten enough, I would exercise, go for run, toss some iron, crunches, something hard for maybe 20 minutes. After the exercise I was never hungry.  

As we age the exercise part becomes a tricky edge to follow, just a bit too much can strain something and you lose, rather than gain ground.

Everything was easier 20 years ago... 

How right you are.  I found when I got hungry I would go for a jog and that would most often than not eliminate the desire.  So not only did I not succumb and plug my gut with something else, I actually squashed the desire AND I lost more weight in the process.  Double winner.  But that's not what I want to talk about.  I just got on the scale this morning and lost another pound.  So far I've done this with diet only.  Wife made something similar to this https://www.bhg.com/recipe/indian-cauliflower-fried-rice/ and I loaded it up with Sriracha sauce.  Basically few calories and nothing but pure natural stuff.  You can load up on it and fill yourself AND lose weight. Double winner.

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great you're doing so well, Dottles.

Somehow I think women at mid-life and older have a much harder time losing lots of weight in same time period as yours 'cause our bodies and hormones are abit different. I keep hearing enough stories how quickly some men have lost weight at the beginning compared to women.

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On 8/17/2018 at 8:03 AM, shootingstar said:

great you're doing so well, Dottles.

Somehow I think women at mid-life and older have a much harder time losing lots of weight in same time period as yours 'cause our bodies and hormones are abit different. I keep hearing enough stories how quickly some men have lost weight at the beginning compared to women.

Thank you Star!  I'm a bit in awe right now what is happening to me.  I'm into this 3 months and specifically into the 'vegan' part of the program -- and the weight is just falling off.  I have a coffee and a Lara Bar in the morning, and maybe a whole wheat tortilla with almond butter, or even a bowl of whole grain cereal and almond milk -- and that seems to hold me for much of the day.  I might have a snack later on in the day (like a handful of walnuts)  and then finish the day off with a large plate of Indian cauliflower rice or something equivalent that my wife whips up (she's a very good cook).  It's ok if I totally load up on these as they are very low calorie -- but usually a big plate is sufficient. 

Cruciferous vegetables - Dr. Axe

 

I typically finish the night with a frozen berry smoothie with all sorts of healthy ingredients like ground flaxseed, blackberries, almond milk, kale, cherries, blueberries, raspberry, a Brazil nut, and banana. 

 

Image result for costco frozen berries

 

So it's a vegan whole food breakfast, some kind of afternoon snack (like a handful of walnuts or another Lara Bar), a plate of cruciferous vegetables or some other veggie concoction, and a large fruit smoothie. No compound foods.  No processed foods.  No processed sugars.  No alcohol.  No meat.  No dairy. Well sometimes i might have a zero saturated/trans fat yogurt with berries -- but that's infrequent.

I'm not cutting deals or breaking from my routine.  I'm doing this daily and the weight is falling off.
 
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On 8/12/2018 at 1:09 PM, Square Wheels said:

This is really fantastic.  I'm not trying to jeopardize your pathway, but I'd suggest slowing down a little on the losing.  The rebound effect when you slip a little can be very real.  You didn't get overweight in 6 weeks, you don't need to lose it in 6 weeks.  I've lost about 65 - 70 pounds over the past 5 or 8 years.  I don't really document or remember a lot of it.  I was at 250ish, I'm not 18i0sh.   Again, it took me years.  I've seen a few people lose a lot of weight, then put on more than they started at.  I've seen people have bypass surgery only to fins ways to get the calories in and gain the weight back.

You plan sounds solid, but it's so easy to give in to temptation.  Keep refining and slowly keep losing.

Can I ask, how tall, how old, and what do you weigh? 

Here's why I think it is good to lose weight somewhat faster.... at least initially.  A guy like me who has been diagnosed with heart disease -- with a plaque score twice as high as the other guys in the high risk category in my age group -- can take comfort in knowing this.  According to our buddy Dr. Ozzie:

Quote

As mentioned above, weight loss lowers your blood pressure and cholesterol. Incredibly, just 10 pounds of weight loss can result in a greater than 50% risk reduction for heart attacks.

 

I feel better knowing that my chances of heart attack may have just been cut in half.  I am not going back.

https://www.doctoroz.com/article/10-reasons-lose-just-10

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6 hours ago, Dottles said:

Here's why I think it is good to lose weight somewhat faster.... at least initially.  A guy like me who has been diagnosed with heart disease -- with a plaque score twice as high as the other guys in the high risk category in my age group -- can take comfort in knowing this.  According to our buddy Dr. Ozzie:

 

I feel better knowing that my chances of heart attack may have just been cut in half.  I am not going back.

https://www.doctoroz.com/article/10-reasons-lose-just-10

Lowering your sugar intake will also lower your cholesterol.

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4 hours ago, Square Wheels said:

Lowering your sugar intake will also lower your cholesterol.

Check.  For now, I'm just following where this diet leads me.  I"m pretty sure I'm going to naturally plateau soon.  The first 10 or 15 pounds are always much easier to lose.  I suspect I'll be falling into your camp soon and lose weight slowly, and probably more healthier over time.

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6 hours ago, Square Wheels said:

Lowering your sugar intake will also lower your cholesterol.

Sugar is )(*&%^$ evil!

You have to control your intake before it makes you its bitch.  For me, candy is the hardest to resist - things like jelly beans, sour patch kids, peanut M&Ms, Good & Plenty, licorice, chocolate bars - pure crack cocaine!

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13 hours ago, Dottles said:

Here's why I think it is good to lose weight somewhat faster.... at least initially.  A guy like me who has been diagnosed with heart disease -- with a plaque score twice as high as the other guys in the high risk category in my age group -- can take comfort in knowing this.  According to our buddy Dr. Ozzie:

 

I feel better knowing that my chances of heart attack may have just been cut in half.  I am not going back.

https://www.doctoroz.com/article/10-reasons-lose-just-10

Very good article, but I get the feeling that Dr. Oz is pretty quackish with his plethora of advertising questionable stuff.

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2 minutes ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Very good article, but I get the feeling that Dr. Oz is pretty quackish with his plethora of advertising questionable stuff.

I think he is too on the quackish side.  But there were other articles out there that talk up the bennies of losing 10 lbs.  I'm not going to go research them at this time but I feel good that I have dropped more than that since June.  A lot of it's psychological but it feels good when your get positive reinforcements from the medical community.  I mean, I know I feel better and trust that I am better.  To then have it validated by them is a gust of wind to my sails.  I want to keep it going.

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2 minutes ago, Dottles said:

I think he is too on the quackish side.  But there were other articles out there that talk up the bennies of losing 10 lbs.  I'm not going to go research them at this time but I feel good that I have dropped more than that since June.  A lot of it's psychological but it feels good when your get positive reinforcements from the medical community.  I mean, I know I feel better and trust that I am better.  To then have it validated by them is a gust of wind to my sails.  I want to keep it going.

You and me both!  I just love the way I feel when shedding pounds, even if only slowly.  Most of life is sort of a cumulative game.

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17 minutes ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

You and me both!  I just love the way I feel when shedding pounds, even if only slowly.  Most of life is sort of a cumulative game.

An interesting thing has happened to me -- I look forward to waking up now so I can weigh myself.  That alone shows the huge amount of progress I've made.  One does not wake up so they can eagerly see how much fatter they've become.  I have a lot more work to do, Ralph, but I feel I'm doing almost everything I can at this end regarding my diet. 

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2 hours ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Sugar is )(*&%^$ evil!

You have to control your intake before it makes you its bitch.  For me, candy is the hardest to resist - things like jelly beans, sour patch kids, peanut M&Ms, Good & Plenty, licorice, chocolate bars - pure crack cocaine!

My wife tells me if you can get off sugar, you'll find other things to be naturally sweet, and things like jelly beans to be too sweet.  I'm slowly getting there.  I still eat some candy, but very rarely now.  I can't eat jelly beans anymore, they are way too sweet for me.

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3 hours ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Sugar is )(*&%^$ evil!

You have to control your intake before it makes you its bitch.  For me, candy is the hardest to resist - things like jelly beans, sour patch kids, peanut M&Ms, Good & Plenty, licorice, chocolate bars - pure crack cocaine!

I sometimes would get into the candy bar thing but generally speaking I was never a big candy guy. Now, mixed coffee shit storms and iced dairy products were my weakness. Still are. I don't know if there is a better comfort food out there than ice cream. It's a helluva way to end your day... in more ways than one.

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3 hours ago, Square Wheels said:

My wife tells me if you can get off sugar, you'll find other things to be naturally sweet, and things like jelly beans to be too sweet.  I'm slowly getting there.  I still eat some candy, but very rarely now.  I can't eat jelly beans anymore, they are way too sweet for me.

Yep - get off the "sugar" candy. That's pretty easy. I stick with chocolate stuff still.  Plenty of sugar still, but it's not pure sugar.

Tom

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4 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

Mostly why I eat it that dark is the lower the percent cocoa the more likely it has milk.  85% or greater is usually vegan.

I think a 72% dark chocolate would still be vegan.  It may not get the "vegan" label since I often see "produced on equipment that processes nuts and dairy" sort of disclaimer, but that would be a trace amount and surely suitable for your gluten and vegan needs.

Ex from TJ's big ass 72% dark chocolate bar:

91NWH4HMSjL._SL1500_.jpg

Tom

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Great job so far, Dottles...  You're diet sounds pretty radical, but I'm glad it's working for you.  Diet is definitely the greater part of losing weight.

My diet is mostly just to eat less of stuff, rather than cut out stuff for the most part.  Sure the highest fat/calorie stuff like ice cream and fried foods get cut out almost completely, but most other stuff I just eat a lot less of.

Ice cream and beer are probably my 2 biggest weaknesses... Right now I am limited to 1 beer per day, and only on days when I exercise at least 1 hour.  Ice cream I just don't buy so it's not available to easily cheat.

I've been running pretty much everyday (or walking on the mornings that I ride after work) and am up to a 35 minute (approx. 3.5 miles) regular run, and have done 5 miles on the treadmill last weekend and 6 miles outside with hills this Sunday.  Those would be the longest I've ever done in my life. :)

Also started doing push ups, pull ups, and sit ups the last couple weeks.  You really don't realize how week you've become until you start up on those again. :D And the soreness... ?

But, it's all paying off!  Down 6 pounds this last week (which was really make up for the 2 prior weeks of almost no movement) to get back under 200lbs (199.4) once again.   Still about 25 more to go...

Keep up the good work!

 

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2 hours ago, Reverend_Maynard said:

Great job so far, Dottles...  You're diet sounds pretty radical, but I'm glad it's working for you.  Diet is definitely the greater part of losing weight.

My diet is mostly just to eat less of stuff, rather than cut out stuff for the most part.  Sure the highest fat/calorie stuff like ice cream and fried foods get cut out almost completely, but most other stuff I just eat a lot less of.

Ice cream and beer are probably my 2 biggest weaknesses... Right now I am limited to 1 beer per day, and only on days when I exercise at least 1 hour.  Ice cream I just don't buy so it's not available to easily cheat.

I've been running pretty much everyday (or walking on the mornings that I ride after work) and am up to a 35 minute (approx. 3.5 miles) regular run, and have done 5 miles on the treadmill last weekend and 6 miles outside with hills this Sunday.  Those would be the longest I've ever done in my life. :)

Also started doing push ups, pull ups, and sit ups the last couple weeks.  You really don't realize how week you've become until you start up on those again. :D And the soreness... ?

But, it's all paying off!  Down 6 pounds this last week (which was really make up for the 2 prior weeks of almost no movement) to get back under 200lbs (199.4) once again.   Still about 25 more to go...

Keep up the good work!

 

3.5 miles is a good run. In fact, 2 miles a day or every other day is probably good enough. I am not there yet but keep it up.

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1 minute ago, Dottles said:

3.5 miles is a good run. In fact, 2 miles a day or every other day is probably good enough. I am not there yet but keep it up.

I keep telling myself I'm not a runner, and not to overdue it, but I just don't feel beat up by it, so I keep adding a little more, and a little more...

The 5 mile run, I set out to do 5k. This was my first run without any planned rest interval, so just doing 1/2 hour non-stop would have been progress. But when I got to 5K I said to myself, "Am I a wimpy European, measuring my run in Ks? No, I'm an American damn it and we measure in miles!" ? And I found that I was able to just get into a zone and not worry about how long I had gone or how much was left.

I don't want to waste my own time doing less than I could, when I really want to be doing more.  I don't have a lot of patience for long term plans. :)

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It's hard to believe that since the middle of July, i'm about 20 pounds less that where I started.  I must tell you it feels really good and I'm still kind of in shock. I feel so much better even if the 20 lbs isn't exactly visible.  But my waist line sure knows the difference.  I have to tighten my belts or my shorts would fall off.  I know it's a lot of weight fast but I'm being consistent here and doing the same thing.  As long as I don't deprive myself of nutrients, i think I'm in good shape.  I do think my stomach has been retrained and doesn't need to eat or think it needs to eat as much or on as high of frequency. Real fruit smoothies and veggie dinners each day.  Lara bars and walnuts in between. And water.  Lot's of water.  I like the carbonated kind because of the belching.  Yo soy ANIMAL.

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On 8/20/2018 at 10:36 AM, Square Wheels said:

I don't see joy in food.  If I did, I'd just get fat again.

Do you believe, after increasing your physical activity and adopting healthier eating habits, that you would lapse back into your old habits? 

Come on, man! You ride your bike in the basement on a trainer.  If you can do that and not go insane, then you have the willpower to eat (and enjoy) food in moderation.

Tom

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1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

Do you believe, after increasing your physical activity and adopting healthier eating habits, that you would lapse back into your old habits? 

Come on, man! You ride your bike in the basement on a trainer.  If you can do that and not go insane, then you have the willpower to eat (and enjoy) food in moderation.

Tom

I think you make a lot of assumptions. I am reminded of myself when I was on top of my game.

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