Fat and Back: A Follow Up

I was orignally going to just respond to Marion's comment, but I decided to extend things into a full post.

Basically, I was excited that Marion found my post interesting, because I love to read what she writes, so it was nice to think I could show her something new :)

I also felt that I just didn't do the doco enough justice. For starters, in explaining PJ's story, especially as he was gaining weight; and also the impact it had on me. I think the effect of what I saw is going to stick with me for a long while.

I really wish I could link to full documentary, because it was fascinating watching, and as I mentioned last week, scary and confronting. Really put a mirror up to me (and my mind) and gave me a reality dose. A mental Gibbs' slap if you will.

However, because there doesn't seem to be the full documentary online anywhere, I have tracked down some youtube clips that cover some of what I talking about last week. 

For starters, this youtube clip from the documentary's website is a pretty good summary of the entire doco. http://www.fatandback.tv/

Oh! And this one!!  Here you see one of the diary entries where he was not happy with himself.

 

Additionally, these are some further youtube clips for him that I think covered pretty well what was happening in the 'gaining' phase of his experiment. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpmsSFKOjYM  <-- The Morning Show (AUS)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j2ALxYvbS8    <--  Good Morning America (USA)

 

And a 3 part series for the same TV program here in Australia.  I couldn't track down if there was a fourth part...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL9IXQEA4BA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl9f6gNsbNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2StpG1l9uDU

 

By this video, I guess all the information is starting to be repetitive, but there may still be something interesting you may get out of it, especially for American readers.

Overall, I'd have to say, I found that first part of the documentary the most fascinating.  To see how his mindset to food completely changed.  How much he found food to be a comfort.  And food was the biggest factor for him in his life.  Those first two videos really cover what this documentary meant to me. 

It was just such a shock to see this fit, healthy guy, whose life is all about being fit and in great shape, go from that, to a blob, so quickly.  And that he had those same characteristics of overweight people - lethargy, curve in the lower back from all the weight he was carrying, the "Oh sure, I'll just a eat a little of that".  He underwent the same feelings and mental stuff that I do.  I don't think it matters that he only did this in 6 months, while I've gained over 6 years.  The point is those mind games your body does with food are real.  He was still picking up that mentality and food addiction of someone who eats too much.

I am really glad that I watched that documentary.  It was sheer luck I found it, because I was channel surfing and it's on a station I don't normally watch.  

So lesson learned from the doco?  Bad food habits are easy to make and hard to break.  But they are not unbreakable.  I can do this well if I start slow but stay strong and stay comitted. 

I mentioned last week that I stopped being as diligent as I should be with the food journaling.  So all this past week I've started journaling & weighing everything again.  And yes, honestly I've eaten some foods that I probably shouldn't have and I have not been under my calorie goal for every day, but I'm confident that I have been a heck of a lot closer to my calorie goal across the week than I was in the last two weeks.

Monday is my next weigh-in morning. If I can find where I put my tape measure, I will take some measurements too. Maybe even create a measurements page. This Monday marks 5 weeks that I've started to relook at my efforts. 3 weeks of good eating mixed with 2 weeks of poor. We'll see what happens and let the results speak for themselves.