The Six Month March

[Frustr8 7,886]

Very proud you are keeping on with your March toward health! This is going to be a wonderful. 6 month journey, Jonnie!😛

[Dragon64 142]

The journey is definitely off to a good start, thank you Frustr8!

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

On 5/1/2018 at 4:07 PM, Orchids&Dragons said:

husband is a Dragon64. He's the largest dragon in my collection

my husband is a Dragon64. - added on after the fact

@Orchids&Dragons @Dragon64

ahhhhh, you two look cute together.

it must be great to have WLS during the

same time period - able to help each other.

@Orchids&Dragons congrats on 56.6 down

@Dragon64 30.6 pre-op!!

You guys are in "it" to win it

keep up the good work

kathy

[Orchids&Dragons 9,047]

5 minutes ago, proudgrammy said:

@Orchids&Dragons @Dragon64

ahhhhh, you two look cute together.

it must be great to have WLS during the

same time period - able to help each other.

@Orchids&Dragons congrats on 56.6 down

@Dragon64 30.6 pre-op!!

You guys are in "it" to win it

keep up the good work

kathy

Sorry, grammy, but Dragon64 and I have never met. My '64 Dragon lives in Texas! 1964 was the year of the dragon in the Chinese calendar.

[Dragon64 142]

1964 was a good year... for vintage Dragons! Grammy, thank you for the nice compliment all the same!

Edited May 23, 2018 by Dragon64

[Orchids&Dragons 9,047]

Love the avatar!

[Dragon64 142]

Thanks! Too bad the Avatars images are rounded... the `64 is barely visible.

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

57 minutes ago, Orchids&Dragons said:

Sorry, grammy, but Dragon64 and I have never met.

@Dragon64

Oh noooo

The initial avitar was a face pic of you

when the heck did chinese dragon pop up?

maybe i'm smoking your weed!! LOL

someone please enlighten me!!

i'm so confused@Dragon64

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

@Dragon64

Edited May 23, 2018 by proudgrammy
oooooop computer won't let me add in this space??

[Dragon64 142]

The Dragon avatar I created a number of years ago when I was learning photoshop... I use it on most all the forums that I frequent (which is too many). I may have to go back to the facial avatar.

[Dragon64 142]

I am not a religious man; I have not been to church in over 20-years, and I enjoy my freedom shopping at wally-world, or going to the early movies while everyone else is at church... But I do pray. Most recently I prayed for intervention. I prayed that a power higher than myself give me strength, because in the past I have had little when I needed it most. And "boy-howdy" do I ever need some help now! In my prayer I made sure to ask for exactly what I needed and nothing more; and right now I needed Him to ease my burden, so that I might get healthy...

The power in prayer; My office mate gave me a book, titled Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeust. This is a weight loss journey the author tells of from a religious point of view. Now, it is geared more towards women, but I have found I can relate to most everything she writes about, albeit from a religious stand point... and I am not a religious man. But the book is about her carvings, and how she had to deal with those demons, it is a very good read, I am half way through the book [reading it at work]

Other than this forum, I am also an avid member on a hobby forum called The Rocketry Forum (I am an avid model rocket flier). On this forum I started a thread on weight loss, and the trouble I had in the past. From this discussion noise, a member came through and contacted me privately. He asked me to read a book, a book that helped him a lot. He said that if I promised to read it, he would send it to me free of charge. I did promise, and a few days later Amazon delivered me a copy of The Obesity Code written by Dr Jason Fung. Once I realized that not only did a complete stranger offer up his help, he actually "gifted" me a copy straight from Amazon. No doubt I felt obligated to read the book. The book basically debuncts decades of research that has told us that "less calories in and more calories out (exercising)" means weight loss. Dr Fung basically says that obesity is directly related to our bodies insulin, or insulin resistance. Insulin has been know to cause weight gain for years, anyone having to give themselves insulin can attest to that. I am half way through this book as well, but I have one major take away so far... Now I have known for some time, that artificial sweeteners are bad. They are a bad replacement for sugar, that in my opinion, is pure evil dressed in white. Artificial sweeteners have been one of my many hold outs, the last enjoyable sweetness that I can run across my pallet. I have been averaging 6 to 10 packets of sweetener (2 per cup) in my coffee daily. In the Obesity Code, Dr Fung stated that these "fake" sweeteners, while providing no calories, still cause the body to produce extra insulin... interestingly enough, I have been recently diagnosed with elevated insulin levels, and I am now taking Metformin to help lower them (insulin). This past Saturday my weight crept back up from 293.8 to 297.4, about the time that I read the revelation about the affects of artificial sweeteners. Then and there, I stopped cold turkey, no more of the little pink packets for me... It seems that the immediate effect was weight started to shed off of me; I went from 297.4, and this morning I am 291.2

I have been so moved by the generosity of a total stranger; my office mate, my wife, everyone reading and commenting on my posts, and my family, that I have been humbled. Just when you thought you were alone you come to realize just how blessed we all are...

I did another kitchen clearing; all cans that contained any kind of sweetener, fake or other wise, went into a bag, and I brought them to work. One of my final holdouts, fake sweets, has given up "the ghost" so to speak.

I am not a religious man, yet prayer works in mysterious ways... You never know where He is going to send you help, and "That's all I got say about that"

[SydneySleever 104]

The book basically debuncts decades of research that has told us that "less calories in and more calories out (exercising)" means weight loss. Dr Fung basically says that obesity is directly related to our bodies insulin, or insulin resistance. 

Firstly thanks for sharing your story! I’m a fan of Dr Fung, he has great YouTube videos that just make so much sense, check them out if you haven’t. Best of luck to you!

[Dragon64 142]

I love the book so far, everything he has presented has made so much sense. Thank you for the kind words!

[Orchids&Dragons 9,047]

You may not consider yourself religious, but I do. You pray and you believe.

Thank you for sharing! I'll check out those books when I get home!

[Dragon64 142]

A few words on cravings; I was never a "sweets" kind of guy, I never craved donuts and candy bars and chocolate etc. I was a "crunch guy" I like my chips and salsa, chili conqueso, Doritos etc. To this day I am finding that I needed to replace that crunch, and carrots are now my go to replacement.

Saying I was not a sweets guy, is not entirely true. What, if any, processed food is not made with some form of sweetener? High Fructose corn syrup; sugar; Maltitol, Sucrolose, Sorbitol, Xylitol... I may not have been a sweets guy, but I was addicted to a lot of the processed foods that contained these sweeteners, and excess salt. Because that's how 'they' get you. Even now, we are trying to replace sugar with "sugar free" alternatives, and any doctor will tell you that man made sweeteners are just as evil as processed sugars.

All this just to say, that I had to rid myself of all processed sweeteners, including the man-made variety that comes in the blue, pink and yellow packets. I had to cleanse my cupboards and pantry of any and all goods that even hinted at some form of sweetener. And do you know what? It is like a cloud has lifted off of me. Sure, I had the jitters wondering how I was going to live without certain foods, but now these cravings are a distant memory. Coming off of all of the sweeteners have cleared my mind, I kid you not. You do not realize the veil that sugar addiction places over you and your thoughts. I can honestly tell you that 90% of my cravings have gone away.

Guys at work ask what I do for "snacks" I tell them raw almonds and strawberries & apples are great natural Snacks. I do not need or want puddings, Jellos, Cookies or cakes. Like when I quit smoking, and the smell of smoke repulses me, the smell of sweets literally makes my teeth hurt.

I knew that if I am to form a life long change to make this journey work, then I had to kill the cravings... getting rid of processed sugars was the ticket. And I can tell you, it is working! I urge you to try it, if you feel that you need a sugar free substitute to take the place of your usual go to snack, then you are still addicted to sugar still has its hooks in you.

If you gather no other good from reading my journey, I can tell you for certain that this "life hack" works. Tell sugar to take a hike, and to take all of his fake buddies too! The fog will lift in a couple weeks, the cravings will go away, and you will see clearly where you need to go...

"Life is Good!"

Edited May 31, 2018 by Dragon64