Pug

And SlimFast isn’t going to qualify as something you drink while fasting. I do drink tea and coffee on fasting days like today. It helps when I am having a hunger pang. If I was going to give a tip on managing pangs it would be to try to eliminate all highly processed carbs for 4 or 5 days before fasting. I found this really helped diminish the pangs. Also, after a couple of fasts it actually gets easier.

3 fingers for now. I seem to just go wild the few times I tried claw hammer

I had hooking issues after I got hit by a car 2 years ago. My osteopath predicted this would happen. Then it started up again when the hip was replaced last year. I thought I had it beat when I started up with the SS last summer only to have it return with a vengeance along with a generally erratic dispersion pattern. I think I have a good program underway now with both the SS and PGZ training. Thanks for weighing in- it’s good to know we aren’t alone on this golf ️ adventure.

I am completely onboard with your and Kenny B’s comments . The dispersion I am now getting with the six iron would be acceptable if I wasn’t hitting into a green, and is far better than what I was getting last year when I first tried them. I have every confidence that continued practice with both programs will continue to return positive results until I finally max out on my potential, but I still have more than a year to go with the SS and will wash, rinse and repeat on the PGZ training as long as I have to. I also see it as having remedial value should things start to go astray, as it were, during the season. Thanks for the support guys.

I am going to replace irons and wedges this year and may also upgrade my fairway woods, and arranged a fitting at a local unaffiliated fitting shop. During the course of the experience I mentioned that I had tried SS last summer, but when I got to the course I was spraying shots all over the place and could no longer hit my fade, so I stopped using the SS and deliberately slowed down my swing to get control back. Before I could finish the fitter jumped in and really trashed the SS as causing nothing but erratic shots for those who used them. Since I wanted to get on his Trackman and get some analysis I shut up about it. With a range of different weight shafts my 6 iron club head speed ranged from about 66 to 68 mph. Dispersion with the second lightest club which also had the best distance, was no more than 10 yards left and right of centre. The part of the story the fitter didn’t hear was I was another Trackman the last week of December and my 6 iron club head speed ranged from an average of 60 to 62 mph. On December 29 I started the SS Level 1 protocol again, and 8 weeks later had just graduated to the Level 2 protocol. The fitting was the very next day. From 62 to 68 mph represents an 8.8% increase in club head speed in just 8 weeks. The other thing I had started doing at the same time was working the Performance Golf Zone “Fix My Slice” training. The dispersion pattern of + or - 10 yards from the centre line puts all of the shots in the fairway. I thank the PGZ training for that. The fitter had virtually no large scale data to support the clubs he had available (CGX, Miura, PGX) and was trying to fit this old man into were in anyway superior to the Mizuno JPX 919 Hotmetals that I am leaning towards. Given his expressed biases I will be getting my irons fitting done elsewhere. I made the appointment with another independent golf equipment retailer for this Thursday, and I will see what they think of the Mizunos and the other irons (Cobra, Ping and TM) I am interested in checking out. The data will tell the story.

Hey revkev, your post has been on my mind and I don’t want you or the other readers to get misleading impression. Right now I am full tilt boogie into my winter routine as described. I am going to transition into my pre-golf season routine starting next week. Working outs will happen on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesday and Thursday is for putting and range practice (and a little banjo) which still has to be inside for the next couple of months. The work outs will still include 32 to 46 sets, depending on what I am working on. To that I have added Superspeed Stix. Unlike what is posted elsewhere I do that after my workout. To be true to my own health if I miss a session I do a make up session on the weekend. I did drop the 5 pounds I put on on Valentines Day and got my blood sugars back to normal by last Thursday so this program is working for me. Now it’s time to shag off to theGolf Expo. Cheers. May the course be with you

I hear that chisag. The hangover only gets more savage and long lasting as we age, so good for you not succumbing to the social pressure to have a drink. A couple of my golf buddies who were drinkin’ and token back in the day are total abstained now, although I have noted they are discussing the joys of edibles. Evil weed is legal everywhere here in the Great White North. Being an asthmatic I won’t ever consider smoking it again. You saw the earlier bit about my misspent youth, right? They are having a hard time meeting the demand for edibles here. I have been using CBD for the arthritis in my right hand since they made it legal. It’s not a cure but I get enough relief that I have stopped using Aleve, the other little blue pill. As for the munchies... I did mention I had to loose over 100 pounds to get to a not weight range and I don’t want to go through that again. Should I decide to give edibles a shot, well I love popcorn and make a really filling chocolate meal replacement bar that should help

I meant to mention I am happy to hear that 1300 calories isn’t your norm. To be frank I was mildly alarmed. Tracking what you eat takes the guesswork out of the process and really helped me get on track with what I had to change to get my blood sugars under control, so I am glad to hear you are doing it. As a datacratic Golf Spy I suppose I shouldn’t have expected anything less

As the old saying goes, if I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself. Mind you, I wouldn’t have missed a moment of my misspent youth for a million bucks, but I wouldn’t pay a nickel to do it again, either. Once you have seen the sun rise over the curb the first time the appeal really goes out of the experience. I gained 5 pounds this weekend and my blood sugars jumped from mid 4’s to 6.4 this morning. All it took was a bottle of champagne, a little red wine and a couple of small processed carb deserts. Alcohol makes me retain fluid, so that will drain away by Thursday, but the blood sugars will likely take longer to settle down. I knew my self-indulgence would have this result. It is the reason I have to work the program I have. Believe me, I would like to be able to get away with doing less, but that is not possible if I want to stay healthy. However, is a life without wine a life worth living? I have cut back on booze because I know how it impacts me, but without putting too fine a point on it, I’m not a monk, and I am prepared to pay the price for it. I also want to say how much I appreciate the quality of the dialogue brought to this thread. No better example than the comments and observations made by RickyBobby_PR and MattF. Concerned questions lead to a very positive conversation. It’s what keeps me coming back. Hey MattF, you’re lucky it’s only your calves!

First, Happy Birthday Second, sigh of relief and good to hear. Not to be pushy, but why not shoot for 160 pounds, which would have you just squeak into the normal weight range for your height? Thinking of the whole weight loss physical fitness regime as a process rather than weight loss as a goal, than getting to 180 could be viewed as the outcome of that process and verification that the process is working. With that thinking seeing 180 come up on the scale becomes a milestone rather than an endpoint. As a milestone 180 can be noted and celebrated before quickly getting back to your process which is intended to get you to not just a healthy weight but also into excellent physical condition. More strength = more swing speed = lower scores. How’s that for a motivation in addition to just feeling good as a result of being at a decent weight and in great shape? In terms of self image, for me what this means is that I don’t self- identify as a guy that lost 106 pounds. I self-identify as the guy that never misses a gym session and eats clean. What that means is I eat no crap and just say “No” to stuff containing highly processed carbs and added sugars. I hit the gym a minimum of 4 days a week, and typically 5. I fit medical and dental appointments around my gym schedule, and not the other way round. I can’t always do that with specialist appointments and colds and flu, so I will make up a missed workout by going to the gym on the weekend. This isn’t me bragging. I’m telling you and the rest of the readers of this thread this in the hope everyone understands the level of dedication, determination and dedication it takes for me to do what you are doing. Weight loss and a healthy, fit lifestyle aren’t achieved easily, but Rule 1 is: nothing changes until I change. It is not something you can succeed at and maintain with a casual attitude or haphazard approach. Nor once you get to a healthy weight can you quit your program without the weight roaring back. My hat is off to you. Please keep us posted about what you think of the My Fitness Pal sessions as you do them.

You know exercise alone may not work. While increasing muscle strength and mass will increase the mitochondria count in muscle cells that “burn” glucose, unless they are given the time to process all of the excess glucose the improvement in blood sugars may not be enough to recover and get back to non-diabetic levels. What does upping your game look like for you?

As anyone can see the foods you mention are all obviously good choice, so as plans go that certainly sounds fine but I am surprised your caloric intake is in this low range. I suspect the calorie count is a best guesstimate and you’re not actually doing a recorded hard count, right?

Dude! I am impressed. This is an intense program and not for the feint of heart; real commitment is required to work a program where the intensity of effort is high even if the duration is brief. In many respects I also prefer high intensity workouts (although I require a longer duration, typically an hour and 50 minutes and I am 67, you pup) so I understand the attraction of the gains that can be made in a relatively short time frame for each session. Now the second part of the challenge is getting right with food. What are you planning on doing on that front? We know that exercise is great for improving the overall quality of life, but unless we get the diet part sorted the weight loss part of the program takes a whole lot longer and may never be completely achieved. You could achieve part of your goal but with metabolic adjustment your weight loss can plateau and get stuck at that point. So over to you - what’s the food plan?

Windchill will be -20* tomorrow morning when I head into work. My heart goes out to everyone shivering in the Florida sun.

When I was first diagnosed with diabetes I did a lot of reading about its health effects and was horrified by what I learned. Among other things it is the leading cause of blindness and amputations in the U.S. Stumps me why having a leg cut off would be motivating, but it worked for me. My game sucks enough already. I can’t imagine trying to play standing on one foot. I tried to quit smoking 5 times unsuccessfully. When the price went up by a dime in 1981 I did the math and calculated smoking was costing me a month’s salary every year. I couldn’t imagine setting my pay cheque on fire, so why was I burning it one cigarette at a time? The sixth time was the charm. When it comes to health my take away from Younger Next Year was I had a choice. Either first it was a cane, then it was a walker and then they roll you up in a chair and tip you into that short, deep ditch or I could run up, martini in one hand and golf club in the other, shout “Woo who!” and jump in. I choose health. My point is I understand how getting motivated and staying motivated is hard. What helped me was to stop focusing on goals and to start focusing on the process. I stopped focusing on a weight loss goal and started focusing on self-image. Instead of being a guy that lost 20 pounds I became the guy that never missed a workout. Losing 20 pounds just became a milestone that affirmed being a guy who never missed a workout was working for me. By nature I am a sloth, not a gym rat. Nonetheless a gym rat is what I became. My peers that have known me for the last 55 years know how unlikely that is. I know you have to find the motivation that works for you. It can be found in the most unlikely places. Please do keep contributing here. I look forward to reading about how you are doing. Good luck.

Truth is often unpleasant, but “Let the truth be told though the Heavens fall.” Been where you are on this journey. I went through all of the stages of grief when I changed my life style. It’s the things we lose that we mourn. I was fortunate to know enough to expect it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, or make it easy. I didn’t realize the changes I made then were merely the beginning. The process is evolutionary with no apparent end point. Thoughts like, “Is a life without chocolate a life worth living?” were not helpful. Having a plan helps. Working out what that should be is the hard part. On that note, if you haven’t read “The Diabetes Code” by kidney specialist Dr. Jason Fung, I suggest you might consider doing so. My own doctor recommended it to me when I complained about the difficulty in finding scientifically tested, peer reviewed, fact based information about diabetes. If you have been following this forum you know I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes 7 years ago. I am currently in remission and have been for about four months. What I learned and applied from this book is what I needed to loose the the last 20 pounds and finally get my A1c under 6.0. In addition to helping explain how diabetes actually works, there are great suggestions on a variety of things you can do to formulate your own plan. Worked for me, could work for you and there is no harm in trying. What do you think? Worth a try?

Sent a pm, and hope to have this fixed soon. In the meantime we’ll just have to be patient. Thanks MattF.

Unfortunately it didn’t work, so how do I contact the forum mod?

I have been giving this some thought. Finding the motivation, the ‘“why” in losing weight’ as you put it poses a difficult challenge. So...the information regarding the obvious benefits of being a healthy weight you can find on this forum and elsewhere isn’t sufficient to keep you at it. I suspect the issue isn’t motivation but the difficulty we encounter when we try to change the habits of a lifetime. Earlier in this thread I was referred to a book titled “Atomic Habits”. I have read it and recommend it. It helps you determine what you have to do to get out of your own way, which sounds like it might be underlying your struggle. If not, you are going to have to figure out what the issue is. For inspiration and motivation I also recommend “Younger Next Year”. This helped me get through the de-motivating issues I first encountered 7 years and 106 pounds ago. It is written by an older guy and his doctor writing alternate chapters and there are parts that are quite witty. Finally, I am concerned that being discouraged is negatively impacting your determination to get to the cause of your challenge. Kobe Bryant observed if you are afraid you’re going to fail, you will probably fail. Henry Ford said “Whether you say you can or whether you say you can’t, you’re always right.” And I say: if I am going to be right anyway, than I say I can. Try giving those books a look, because doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result you know does not work. Good luck.

Thanks Matt. I will try to delete it.

On a different note, would somebody please tell me how to get rid of the annoying.jpeg attached to my posts? Any advice is more than welcome.

What MattF said, Kor.A.Door. There are some great tips and information in this thread, and you might want to catch up on your reading here and then weigh in (so to speak) with your own thoughts.

I get that is not easy, especially when we can’t control what happens during the work day. I tried short fasting windows but didn’t have much success until I extended it to about 23 hours, fasting from after supper until supper the next day. That got things moving for me. I’ve been able to extend that to about 40 hours. That really worked. Keeping it off is its own challenge. I have to make IF part of a permanent life style. I am still working out how this will work because I don’t think 40 hour fasts twice a week should be required, but what will remains to be determined. I plan to stick with the current process for another 3 months or so before I start tinkering with it. I want to see another A1c under 6.0 to confirm what I am doing is the correct path. I’ve dealt with my own diet yo-yo and for me will power was not enough to sustain the effort. During the entire 7 year period I have read a lot of contradictory information and finding my own path to what will work is a continuing process, not an end point. IF is just the latest adjustment I have made, and is not for everyone. Each plateau lead to another tweak and diet adjustment to kick start the weight loss process again. Getting my head around the idea that my metabolism will adjust up 40% to deal with reduced caloric intake has been the biggest challenge. Man cannot live by lettuce alone. IF was a last resort- I had simply run out of things to take out or reduce and the whole program was stalled about 20 pounds from where I needed to be to deal with my type 2 diabetes. You’re experienced enough to anticipate plateaus. My question is have you got a plan on how you are going to reboot your metabolism? One way or another I am rooting for you Mr. Theo.

Your weight goal is a huge challenge and my hat is off to you for it. Having gone down the same road I found hitting plateaus and overcoming them was the biggest challenge. I managed to drop the first 70 pounds in about the first 10 months. I was then stalled at about that weight for the following 6 years. On the 7 year anniversary of my weight loss journey I decided to try intermittent fasting. It took 3 months to loose the last 18 pounds and a month after Christmas I dropped the 8 pounds I put on through the feasting season. I tried IF as a last resort and I am not recommending it for anyone. I am suggesting you might keep it in mind as a potential tool in your weight loss arsenal should other measures become ineffective. Good luck, and I look forward to hearing from you soon on your progress.

It took me a week longer than expected but I did manage to peel off the 8 pounds I gained over Christmas. I blame the delay on the left over chocolate rum fruit cake. Somehow I have no problem with that.