Weight loss attempt number 378,461!

It's been almost two years since my last post here and I really didn't think there would be any more posts. My original concept for this blog was to document my weight loss when I was doing Weight Watchers and riding my bicycle. That didn't really work out. Weight Watchers stopped coming to the office and I stopped following the program.

I have read so many different things about dieting I couldn't keep straight about what the "right" foods were and what was wrong. Was I counting calories or fat? Should I be worried about sodium? Should I drink lots of water or will that make me gain weight? Eventually I felt so confused I just stopped paying attention to what I ate and focused on excercise. Guess what? That didn't work at all. I worked out four times a week and gained all my weight back.

That's the very condensed version of my life for the last two years. Lots of effort with very little reward. If you search the web you'll find a large number of stories very similar to mine. It's amazing just how small obesity can make a person feel and, until about three months ago, that's exactly how I felt. Small and defeated.

While I'm opening my soul for everyone I'm going to make another confession. I really like bike porn. Right about now I bet you're asking yourself what bike porn has to do with weight loss?!? Well it doesn't... At least not directly but bear with me. One of the places where I go to look at bike porn is the Rivendell Bicycle Works website. These are some fantastic and well respected people within the bicycling community and they make some of the finest and most useful bicycles in the United States. They have lots of bicycle pictures and stories as well as lots of advice on equipment etcetera etcetera. Grant, the guy that runs the place, has a blog where he posts information about various and sundry things pertaining to Rivendell. I read this blog pretty regularly and there was a post made there one day about a book called "Why We Get Fat!" Grant went on about how good the book was and how the author, Gary Taubes, debunked most of the modern "thinking" about diet and excercise and I got pretty freakin' curious.

I checked out Gary Taubes website and read this article and I was pretty intrigued. I couldn't help but see myself as one of the people in one of those studies. As matter of fact when I was a teenager I was part of weight loss support group for teens and parents that used the calories in/calories out method in conjunction with the low fat method to produce weight loss. Bottom line... I lost quite a bit of weight when I was teenager. As soon as the support group ended I put all that weight and quite a bit more back on. I really think that was the point where all the depression feelings that come with being obese set in.

Today as I'm typing this I have read and feel like I understand the concepts explained in Mr. Taubes book. Today I am starting anew using the advice from Mr. Taubes book as a frame work for a way of eating that will, at least if the assertions in the book are true, allow me to attack my weight problem in a manner that makes sense. Eat when you are hungry, and eat until you are full. I feel hopeful about this for the first time in a long time.

From this day forward I will post a description of every meal I eat everyday right after eating. I will post my weight weekly and photos monthly documenting my success or failure using Mr. Taubes advice. I don't know what's actually going to happen but, I believe that if I follow the advice in the book, the outcome will be a smaller, happier and healthier me.