Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I'm sure you remember the failed policy that New York Mayor Bloomberg attempted to pass earlier this year, the ban on sodas 16 oz. or larger. It's not surprising that such a policy didn't work out as people need to make better choices on their own. However, I do agree that something needs to be done about the sugary drinks as so many people are obese.

One solution might be to stop offering self service for sodas at fast food restaurants. I don't know how many times I've witnessed people refilling their large sodas at McDonald's. Not only have these people ingested what was probably a huge meal full of calories, they went and piled more sugar and calories on by having 2 or 3 servings of soda. I think the only self service machine should be for water, coffee or unsweetened iced tea.

This past Tuesday I weighed in for my 6th week of the YMCA's wellness challenge.  I lost 4 additional pounds since the previous weigh-in.  That leaves me at a weight of 241.5 lbs.  Since the start of the challenge I have lost a total of 23 lbs in six weeks.  Lets see if I can lose enough to break the 30lb mark by the end of the challenge.  That gives me 2 more weeks to lose 7 lbs.

I've gone from a 46 inch pant size down to 42's.  My target goal weight is still 66 lbs away at 175 lbs. I'm shooting for the end of March (my birthday) and I am confident I will reach my goal by then.

A brief update:  I weighed in this past Tuesday at 245.5 lbs. That is another 2.5 lbs dropped since last week!

A while back, I wrote an article about Papa Joe Avaiance. He lost over 250 pounds on a budget and reached his goal without surgery. He is truly an inspiration and I'm so happy he agreed to do an interview for the healthylivingct website. Papa Joe has kept his weight off by eating right and exercising every day. Papa Joe, thank you so much for the interview! I think Papa Joe will motivate those of you who are thinking of losing weight and for those who get discouraged, he offers some great advice. Check out the interview below. For more information about Papa Joe, go to his website by clicking here.

I weighed in today for my 3rd completed week of the YMCA's Corporate Wellness Challenge. I came in just under 250 at 249.8lbs.  I was worried that after the jumpstart period of my diet and I got my carbs back, my weight-loss might drop off completely. It appears everything is moving on course since I am still losing.  I plan on picking up on my activity by exercising 1 hour a day for 6 days a week.  Let's see if I can push 2lbs per/week to 4lbs per/week over the upcoming weeks.

So now I am down a total of 14.2 lbs since I started the challenge 3 weeks ago.  I started the challenge at 264lbs. The thing is... my heaviest, less than 1 year ago, was 283lbs. So in reality I am down 33lbs!  My target weight is 180lbs by March 28th.  I need to average 3lbs a week.  So far so good!