FROM BIG DADDY TO LEAN, MEAN, DADDY MACHINE

Big Daddy has a family history of being overweight. So, weight is something that he has struggled with since his teens. Now, he doesn't eat unhealthy things; he just eats a lot of healthy things. And he's a stress eater. And, owning your own business is pretty stressful.

We've tried several different weight loss strategies with limited success. We tried Nutrisystem for men, which was effective, but the food tasted terrible and it got pretty expensive. You have to buy the meals, but then you have to buy a bunch of supplemental food to go with the meals. The commercials say the plan costs about $10 per meal, but it ends up costing more than that in the long run.

We tried the Zone, but the strict eating schedule and menus provided were difficult for Big Daddy to implement in his line of work (which is construction). He had no available means of refrigeration or re-heating of his meals and snacks.

We tried raw and whole foods, but that got really expensive and required a lot of prep work. We just didn't have the time for all that food preparation. And we certainly had better things to do with our income than hand it over to Whole Foods Supermarkets.

We try to avoid fad diets, which usually don't pan out over the long term. But we always have our eyes open for do-able lifestyle changes that support healthy weight.

So, Big Daddy and I were talking yesterday, and we thought it would be a good idea to chronicle his weight loss journey in the blogosphere. We thought it could provide encouragement and accountability, and provide him with a tangible timeline of his weight loss. At a safe weight loss schedule, we figure he should be where he wants to be in about a year.

Since Big Daddy needs to lose approximately 100 pounds, we began his weight loss journey with a trip to the doctor. Our doctor advised starting simple. He said that the basic problem with obesity was that there was more input than output. Plain and simple, Big Daddy has to eat less. All the time. He told Big Daddy to eat three small meals and two small snacks daily. He suggested using pre-packaged meals (Lean Cuisine, Kashi, etc.) to take the guesswork out of portion sizes. He didn't want us to concern ourselves at this point with things like avoiding certain carbohydrates or eating only organics or going to a nutritionist to get a list of recommended vitamins or anything. At this point, he just wants Big Daddy to eat less. Besides, Big Daddy has done enough research on his own to know what's good for him and what's not good for him.

The doctor's parting words: "You're going to be hungry all the time for a while. And, it's going to make you grumpy. Can you get the weight off? Absolutely. Will you get the weight off? I don't know. That's up to you."

And so, we have just completed our first week of this new, lighter-eating-smaller-portions lifestyle. The result?

Starting weight = 312 pounds

Ending weight this week = 305 pounds

Total weight loss = 7 pounds

Yay, Big Daddy!!!!