Man to Man: A Support System for Men (part 2)

When I was a jolly santa claus with a big belly and the sex appeal of a wildebeest, this was never an issue. Now that I'm a little trimmer I find that I'm not always treated with the same friendly dismisal that I used to enjoy. I'm even being a little careful with this stuff now. I've been meeting hostility since about the time the 32 waist jeans started fitting. ""


Imagine your wife has a working lunch with Norm from Cheers... would you care? Now imagine she has a working lunch with George Clooney - care now don'tcha sparky? :laugh: (I'm certainly not GC, but you get my point). If you've been,,, less appealing(?) for a long time as most of us have, this might be a whole new deal for you. It's something to be aware of.

Oh man, there's so much here Casper, we could rif on this for months... This statement "Now that I'm a little trimmer I find that I'm not always treated with the same friendly dismisal that I used to enjoy" applies to lots of different contexts - not just flirtation (and as a unrepentant English Major, I must say it's very well phrased).

Thanks for the cautionary tale.

Yeah,,, that's #$*%in' kewl ain't it? Don't buy too many pairs - you won't be in them that long.

Rock on compadre.

I weighed in today at 226.0 (Lowest I have ever been in my adult life - I can say that every time I get lower from this point forward)

I don't know if I will be any good in a challenge any more but I am willing to throw my updates in.

I've had my good-feeling moments - a time or two a co-worker comments on the fact that I've obviously lost some weight. I visited my mother this past weekend and she was surprised to hug me and get her arms all the way around me. The real kicker was today, when I walked through the "questionable" neighborhood that I've been walking during my lunch hour since April, passing by these guys who - perhaps due to lack of jobs or desire to have one - always seem to be reclining on their front porch. One of the guys who always seems friendly enough (and trust me - you want to be friendly in this neighborhood) yelled out to me, "Hey man, how much have you lost?" First I thought maybe he was asking if I had been mugged/robbed lately but then remembering that a month or so back he asked why I walked every day - to which I told him I was trying to lose weight. I was so pumped to yell back at him, "43 pounds, man!" "Cool, dude," was his reply. To even get recognition in the hood for my efforts totally made my day!

Casper - I'm not doing much supplementation, I've started taking Creatine Monohydrate powder that I'm mixing with grape juice, and 3.2g of CLA in pill form, and I'll have the occasional protein shake to get protein if there's little meat around, but other than that, trying to eat 5-8 ounces of chicken breast per meal, and eating at least 1 cup of cottage cheese a day to keep the protein up. Drinking allot of water also.

My progress was running steady, I rather quickly bounced up from 147 to 152 lbs, but that's probably entirely water retention caused by the creatine which I'll cycle off of in 3 more weeks. Been hitting the weights heavy and can't say I've seen much in beginner's gains (at least strength-wise), my muscles are sticking out (especially my chest) but thats probably water retention again... and I'm sore most of the time, and last week I got sick and haven't been to the gym since Wednesday. Beating myself up like this seems to keep the immunity down.

Regarding your story about the guy getting upset over your flirtation now that you're fit and not rotund, I can imagine this as one of the negative side-effects that as you look more appealing to women, you become more of unwelcome competition for the guys around youl. You can't win, lol.

Summersmi, I guess we've got a good number of folks looking to add some lean body mass at this point don't we? Maybe we should have a strength or % body fat challenge rather than weight challenge? Like a 10% gain at the bench or a 2-4% loss of body fat?

<<snip>> I was so pumped to yell back at him, "43 pounds, man!" "Cool, dude," was his reply. To even get recognition in the hood for my efforts totally made my day!

That's rox Scott. Excellent,,,

Anyone here have a wife trying to lose weight too?

Since men do usually lose faster, I've lost 17 and she 10, should I keep my numbers to myself or should I share them and see if it encourages her?

You do your thing and let her do hers. If she's a member here she'll see it - if she looks.

Try not to crow when you do well, she may be struggling. Trust me on this, it's something I've learned a LOT about. Just keep it to yourself, do not make a big deal out of it. She may feel that she's in competition with you, and that's tough. Just do what you do and keep on keeping on.

The upside of this is that you don't have to deal with her wanting stuffed crust pizza,,, she's watching what she eats too, so making smart choices is easier.

Sometimes it is that way when they ask. They ask, you answer their questions truthfully but yet it is not the answer they want.

I have always had a problem I inherited from my Mom. I need a better filter between my brain and my mouth

I don't think I have room in mine for many more feet, I thought I only had 2 feet but apparently I was WRONG!

With that said, Where did you pick up that filter and can you lead me to where I can get one on the cheap?

How come my filter winds up being 2 feet (either mine or her's) in the mouth?

I wonder if big guys get that mindset to compensate for another perceived shortcoming? I'm pretty sure I did,,,

I've been away on vacation for a week. Before that my wife was out of town working on her Master's so I didn't have a lot of time to participate on MFP. So it's time to get back on track. I've spent this week just getting the nutrition part back on track. Next week it will be time to get back on the excersise band wagon. I'm honeslty anxious to see how my running goes when it's 100 degrees with a DP of 76. (There's a certain "yes I'm a freak and badass" element to that.)

As for the mouth filter thing. I've always been a pretty confident guy, but I would have to say my filter has deteririerated (sp/) with the more weight I lose.

My wife is on MFP too. Capser even made a pass at her once ; )

Before vacation we had lost 100 lbs combined. She was actually on here first, and we're both pretty active in the forums. When it comes to success and failures I think we handle it pretty well. The biggest problem we have is I consume 1000 more calories than her without excersise, on days that I run that can get up to 2000-2500 calories. I think that irritates her more than she lets on, but there's not a whole lot I can do about it besides not rub it in when I could theorecticly consume an entire pizza and still be under.

My wife is also on here and we have both lost around 36 pounds. We do weigh in together and our dinners are the same. Everything else is different. I find it easier having her going on this journey together.