Jealous of My Nephew's Success

I have a nephew who is earning his master's in meteorology at Texas A&M. He proudly announced in a recent Facebook post that over the past year he's lost something like 27 pounds (from 192 to 165). I wrote an unacknowledged lengthy response (advice, but maybe I'm subconsciously jealous of his success, his youth. No doubt his more active lifestyle--he's a member of his college's bowling team--also makes a difference.

My Mom will tell you that I was never fat as a youth growing up (I left for a residential college over 100 miles away at the age of 16).  I don't really recall pigging out on college cafeteria food (which really wasn't that good), but I definitely gained more than the infamous "freshman 15".  At one point, I became so alarmed at my weight gain that I sent away for a liquid protein mix; my friends intervened at that point, worried about the health risks of the diet at the time. But I have distinct memories of losing 75 pounds, which means I was well over 200 lbs when I started..

My weight continued to fluctuate, probably in the 160-175 range until I joined the Navy as a math instructor officer after getting my UT MA. I know I was in an acceptable range when I entered the Navy. The first thing I did was go to Officer Indoctrination School in Newport, RI. And the chow was fairly decent, compared to what I find elsewhere, e.g., in my Orlando assignment, with rubbery fried eggs where you might douse it with Tabasco in a search for flavor. (We junior officers generally avoided the Orlando chow hall unless it was "steak night".)

Now as a kid, I wasn't that picky about food, except for a few things I absolutely detested (and still dislike) like creamed corn, canned boneless chicken, and cold cuts. (My Mom and I can both be stubborn, and she would sometimes make me a sandwich for school that I didn't like (like in this one case some sliced sausage I think my Dad liked but I found disgusting). I was hungry, but just one bite of that sandwich nauseated me--and I tossed the remainder in the trash.) So here's the point--there was this place on base where we could order grinders (or what people call submarine sandwiches elsewhere). I remember being more of a skeptic when I joined other ensigns going there one day. I don't know if it was the crusty bread, the generous veggies (tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, etc.) and/or oil, etc., but it seemed the same sliced meats I would loathe in a plain white bread sandwich were tasty in this context. I wouldn't say I went to the shop daily during my 3 weeks or so of training, but I probably went there 3 or more times a week, sometimes on my own.

What I particularly remember about OIS was we got hit by a monster snowstorm during the last week of training, and flights out of Providence were a problem to go to our assignments, in my case Orlando. Sometimes when you're in the military, you end up dealing with unfair circumstances. For example, I was told that any delays (for reasons beyond my control) in getting to Orlando would come out of my annual leave.  I remember how bad it was going out of our residential quarters to grab a bite to eat. The wind was so cold coming off the water it literally made my eyes ache. And I recall walking through unplowed, knee-deep snow to get something to eat. A normal 3-minute walk took like 20-30 minutes.

Now we did do some group exercises, like coed volleyball, and one weekend my paternal aunt from Fall River picked me up for the weekend, and I know I ate well. (In particular, there was a Chinese-American restaurant, no longer in business, where we always went when we visited; in fact, my Dad regularly bought chow mein noodles from them mail order.) But to be honest, I don't really recall myself overeating. Maybe I had put on a few pounds since my physical during the holidays.

[That is another telling example of military life. I was living in Austin at the time, and I had to take a bus to San Antonio. They would put us in a hotel overnight for an early morning physical, the expected urine drug tests, etc. So I finally got my turn with one of the physicians, apparently checking on my hearing, and found ear wax buildup obstructing his view of my eardrum. He scraped off a chunk of wax to show me, went to the other ear, found the same, threw up his hands, and told me to go home and take care of it, come back again. I thought the whole situation was absurd. It  would have taken maybe 5-10 seconds to clear the other ear. Instead, the government would pay for a second trip, and I had to walk to an Austin ears, nose, throat clinic and spend $30-35 (this was several years back, a lot of money for an unemployed person with no health insurance). They had some water-jet gizmo that cleared both ears in mere seconds. The doctor couldn't figure out why one ear had more max than the other.]

Now I don't recall when they checked my weight after my arrival in Orlando, but the military is fanatical about personal appearance. I recall getting yelled at over my belt buckle not gleaming shiny enough. I had a good friend and colleague, Joe D., and we ate out a few times. So I weighed in at 193, and the military went apeshit. (Granted, 193 is definitely overweight for a guy about 5'9".) The military has its own form of fat shaming; in this case, I was ordered to attend the "fat boy program" after work (the 4 PM hour), an open-air exercise program, in full view of sailors going off work, walking by. Of course, it was humiliating. I think I was only there for 2-3 weeks, and I quickly resumed my jogging regimen I had started as a UT graduate student.

Roughly a year later I remember adding swimming at my apartment complex pool, working my weight down to 164, 34-inch waist jeans, probably the best shape of my life. This is before I started doing some weight training, particularly during my graduate studies at UH to about a decade ago. so to some extent the weight is somewhat misleading. Most people would think I weigh 20-30 lbs lower than I am.  That does not mean I'm in a state of denial over my obesity. I know I have a long way to go.

So my nephew's weight loss is remarkably similar to mine (192-165) vs (193-164) at similar heights. I think he wants to drop another 15. My message to him was to keep up the good faith, not to be discouraged if his weight plateaus. I crept up from 164 to over 200 lbs, and I've rarely seen south of 200 since my UH days (mid-20s-30). I don't think I've jogged since then, although I did do cardio (bikes, steppers, etc.) at fitness centers, and I've had stationary bikes for much of my adult years (not now). My nephew didn't respond to my comment; maybe he thought I was raining on his parade.

Anyway on to other matters:

-- I actually broke to a new multi-year low this week, not by much: a half-pound, but in one post-work unofficial weigh-in, I dropped another 2 pounds from that. For the past couple of weeks I've been in a 3-lb range from the old low.

-- My favorite new dietary toy: a Dash egg cooker Amazon had priced around $15. Boiling up to a half dozen eggs is as easy as it gets; you add a small amount of water to a steaming plate below, put the egg tray on top, cover, push a button--and you get perfect boiled eggs, easy to peel, about 15 minutes later (the gizmo buzzes when it's done).

-- A few food tips:

    Realgoodfoods. Some nice lower-carb frozen entrees. I found enchiladas and snack-size pizzas (roughly $3.50-5) at my local Walmart (near the gluten-free section. I thought the chicken enchiladas were  tasty; I looked for them again at my last trip to Walmart. They seemed out.

   Caulipower. Lots of companies (even Oprah) are promoting cauliflower-based, lower carb pizza. I found marguerita pizza at ShopRite recently (they had a store promotion for about $4/pizza). (I forget how I came across marguerita pizzas--I think it was Lean Cuisine, probably in my pre-low carb days: basically it's a meatless pizza, typically with tomato bits, cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, etc.) You definitely taste the cauliflower, which may put off pizza lovers used to traditional flour crusts, but it's a taste I could acquire. Not bad in terms of half a pizza for carbs and calories.

   Quest (I've eaten their protein bars, chips and cookies) is selling its pizzas via Target. I'll probably try them when my freezer has room. It's been a while since I've been to target--I didn't even know they carried frozen foods.

   Utz has a multigrain tortilla chip (quinoa, chia, etc.), about 15 net carbs, 140 calories a 1 one ounce serving. (ShopRite).

  Barilla has some chickpea and lentil pastas (ShopRite). Nor low-carb at about 24 net carbs a serving but a huge improvement over other regular pastas. I haven't seen Walmart carry any, even though Sam's Club used to stock chickpea pasta at my clubs maybe 1-2 years back. ShopRite also carries Banza chickpea pastas.

  ShopRite also has a paleo food vendor Birch Benders pancake mix at about 11 net carbs a 2-pancake serving. I bought a package but haven't opened it yet.  It also carries no-calorie Clear Sparkling waters at about 59 cents/liter. Now Walmart's store brand diet ginger ale, cola, cream, and root beer 2-liter/quart bottles at about 62 cents a bottle. Now of course you have to be careful with artificial sweeteners; for example, my Mom's body doesn't tolerate aspartame. Some argue that the calories saved by artificial sweeteners may be offset by adverse effects on hormones, etc., involved in metabolizing the food we eat. I do use artificial sweeteners  but on a limited basis. I even drink the coffee I bring to work without sweeteners or even a dash of almond milk.

I enjoy bargain-hunting at supermarkets and the strategy differs by supermarket. Let me give an example using soups which I've used as a tactic to stave off hunger by filling the stomach with more water volume. (Yes, I'm aware dietitians are critics of salt and other additives in commercial soups.) Walmart usually has lower everyday prices. I think, for example, Progresso Light varieties are about $1.58 a can, and Campbell Chunky maybe 20-30 cents more.  ShopRite regularly sells these around $2.89 each. However. ShopRite often offers a special where you can buy up to say 4 cans at $1-1.67. In addition, today they were offering their deli soups at half price a container (about $2.50). I really enjoyed some lobster bisque tonight. When I looked at my cash register tape, it read $117.58--and totaled my savings (coupons, store specials, etc.) at $85.73. It would take forever to explain my opportunistic shopping, but to give a telling example, I don't buy many commercial salad dressings, but I noticed a sale on Wishbone extra-virgin olive oil red pepper dressing at 99 cents a bottle. Maybe a bag of Starbucks ground coffee is on sale for under $6.

ShopRite usually offers Australian grass-fed meats at better prices than Walmart. I sometimes can buy ground beef at as low as $3.50/lb and certain steak at under $7/lb (I didn't see any today; hopefully they're temporarily out of stock). They often offer a wider selection of seafood like clam meat, mussels, and scallops at reasonable prices. I can find sliced Gouda cheese,