Day One!

Hello and welcome to Ten Years Thinner: My Personal Journey. As the blog title suggests, this is a diary capturing my personal thoughts while living the book Ten Years Thinner authored by Christine Lydon, M.D. After a bit of internet research I decided upon this book and purchased it via Amazon.ca. I have now finished reading the book and am ready to begin it's 6 week program. In truth, I have been slowly gearing up for today over the past 3 weeks (I wasn't in a panic to start) by finishing off some forbidden foods around the house, researching the internet for recipe ideas and buying some of the supplement items (vitamins, fish oil, protein powder) required by the program. I have gradually started cutting back on my sugar and carbohydrate intake over this time and have already noticed some improvements in both weight loss (4 lbs) and digestion (no Tums in the past 3 weeks). Today marks the official beginning of the start of the program for me though and I wanted to record my experience with it, both for myself and for others who are considering the program.

So why did I decide to buy this book and choose this program? Well, I'm 48, male and weigh 230lbs. I am about 40lbs over the weight I should be for my height of 5'11" at my age. I have struggled with weight for most of my life despite playing sports (hockey and baseball primarily) since I was 5 years old. I was always one of the heavier if not heaviest kids in my class. Not crazy heavy, but just bigger than I needed to be. I took my fair share of taunting over the years. Again, not anything crazy, but enough to shame me from time to time. By the time I was in my mid 20's and engaged to my wife to be (still going strong 23 years later) I had reached 210lbs and was getting sick of looking at myself in the mirror. I decided I had to do "something" so I joined Weight Loss Clinic. They had a pretty basic program that looked like something I could follow. There were dietary restrictions and a pill to take each day and then the weekly weigh-ins. Truth be told, it was the weigh-ins that kept me on track. The accountability of having to stand on the scale, in front of one of the "nurses" and weigh more than the week before petrified me into following the program. And you know what? It worked. Coupled with my regular ice hockey schedule, I lost 30lbs over 10 months. What an accomplishment I said to myself. The staff at WLC were supportive the whole time and were excited for me too. However, my initial WLC program had ended now and if I wanted to continue with them on their "maintenance program" I would need to continue shelling out bucks each month. Of course I figured I could manage on my own from that point and opted not to continue with them. By the time the wedding came 6 weeks later I had already put 5lbs back on!

Maybe you've experienced something similar in your past. You see the problem with almost all of the diets, clinics and programs out there is that they don't really teach you "how to eat" they only tell you "what to and what not to eat". I hadn't really changed my lifestyle that much or learned how my body uses the foods I put into it. At least that was my experience. Fortunately I have not been on another "diet" since my WLC experience so my body has not experienced the harmful effects that yo-yo dieting can lead to. It's only experienced the harmful effects of adding about 2lbs a year over the past 23 years and the lack of any regular physical activity for the past 2 years. I am now stiffer and sorer most days than I have ever been in my life. When I stepped on the scale a couple of months ago and it touched 234lbs I knew I had to do something about my weight or I'd be 250lbs soon enough. In fact I had known for a while. At least since my doctor had put me on blood pressure medication 2 years ago due to slightly elevated BP. But I was also tired of feeling tired and stiff each day, like I had been in the ring with a boxer the day before. Now was the time to TAKE ACTION. But what to do? Where to start? I didn't want just another "diet" or "quick loss program", I wanted something I could learn from and take with me the rest of my life. So I started researching on the internet. There are many, many things to choose from on the internet as you well know. Some sound and seem real good at first until you dig deeper and read the "true" reviews and testimonials. I also didn't want to spend a lot of money on DVD's or equipment. So I did a broad search on Amazon under weight loss and started filtering through the results. That's when I encountered Ten Years Thinner. From the online snippets it sounded like just what I was looking for. It was all about lifestyle change and education. There was a web forum with real info and there were several positive reviews for the book. Hey, it's only $15 I told myself, what have I got to lose. Except for the weight of course, lol. Plus the cute picture of Christine on the front cover didn't hurt either. So that brings me to today. The official start of the program and hopefully a change in eating and exercising for the rest of my life. I'm determined to stick with it until I start seeing results. Thankfully not every blog entry will be as long as this one, that's for sure. I just felt I should share a bit of my background and what brought me to this place in my life. I will pop in regularly to update my progress and share thoughts and tips as I experience them. Thanks for stopping in.