What's a Youatarian? It's my own phrase I have used when people ask me how I have lost my excess weight. I'm a Youatarian and live the youatarian lifestyle. Simply put, a Youatarian is someone that follows YOU On a Diet. For any YOAD followers out there that would like to adopt the phrase
for themselves, please feel free.

- Marshall (aka Orlando Tek)



Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my blog!

My Story

In July 2006, I visited the doctor for a multitude of
ongoing medical problems and when I weighed
in I remember being 305lbs. That was the heaviest
I could ever remember weighing on any scale in my life.

My wife, also overweight, started some small changes
in her diet at that time and those changes made its way
through into my diet as well.

In September 2006, I watched my mother undergo
triple bypass surgey. And I always believed her
to be of modest health although she had passed
on a few of her problems to me including high blood
pressure and acid reflux issues. In her early 20's,
unaware of her high blood pressure problem, she
actually had a stroke, although not very severe.

My dad is a bit healthier even though being
12 years older than my mom, but he has borderline
adult onset diabetes and he had a stint put into an
artery a few years back.

Taking in all this information, It was then I decided
I needed to make some serious changes in my life
or I will be the next one on the heart ward not too
long from now.

It was Novemeber, 2006 and I was already following
the few changes my wife had made to her diet and we had
both lost about 15lbs in the last few months. Any
change at this point was a good change. We watched
a Discovery Health special called YOU: On A Diet featuring
the YOU docs and a few families incorporating YOAD
into their daily lives and showing their amazing progress.

The very next day, November 7th, 2006, my wife and
I went through every cabinet and cupboard in our
house and got rid of ALL the bad foods. We then
went to the grocery store and bought foods that
met YOAD and from that day we have not looked back!

We could not find the book at any local store so we
ordered it off Amazon. It took a few weeks to arrive
but we started cooking with only YOAD approved foods
using YOAD approved methods and we WERE seeing
results even before the book arrived.

From there it has been all downhilll. I have lost 110lbs
since starting on YOAD in November but about 125lbs
over the last 18 months total. Wahoo!

And most of my medical problems related to my weight
have now vanished including high bood pressure, acid
reflux and sleep apnea. I have much more energy and
I feel better than I can ever remember!

And its all thanks to YOAD!



Friday, July 25, 2008

Keeping the weight off

I have been maintaining my weight for thr last 7 months
and from what I have been reading it can be difficult for
many people to maintain their weight for a prolonged amount of time.

I thought I would share some of the steps I take to
keep my weight where I want it.

I would like my weight to stay between 155lbs to 160lbs.
Actually, for the last 6 days I have been 156lbs which
is kinda weird because most weeks I fluctuate 2lbs or
so which is actually quite normal.

So, here are some tips for those looking to keeping
their weight where it is.

I keep a food journal everyday. I write down each
meal and all my snacks and keep my calories at about
2300 each day. If I exercise (usually walking) I
add the calories burned to the total and that's how
much I can eat that day. Like this morning I walked on
the treadmill for 25 minutes at 4.5mph. I burned about
170 calories. So for today I can have 2470 calories.

I also work a job where I have a desk although I don't
sit there too often as my job involves me walking around
a large building fixing computer issues. But, I
keep a bag of snacks at my desk and have something
small to eat once every hour. Usually about 100
calories but I have some that are 50 and some that
are 200. This keeps me from being hungry throughout the
work day. I have a small lunch which is normally
around 300 calories and I also have around 300 calories
for breakfast and I allot 800 calories for my dinners
and other snacks after work. This formula works
great for me and keeps me on the straight and narrow.

On the weekends I am not as strict and although I
don't write in the journal, I do keep a running
tab in my head at approx how many calories I have
consumed.

And of course, I already mentioned the exercise.
Don't forget, exercise not only gives you the ability
to eat more during the day, but also increases your
metabolism to help burn more calories at rest, and
helps build muscle that burn more calories overall
compared to fat.

And finally, I try to stay within what YOAD recommends
as far as what to eat. I have my 4 to 5 servings
of fruits and veggies, keep my healthy fat intake to
about 30% of my daily calories, 90% or more of the grains
I eat are 100% whole, avoid the partially hydrogenated oils,
keep the sugars low, keep the saturated fat low, stick
to turkey, chicken and sometimes bison, have fish as
often as I can and get some dark chocolate and
nuts or seeds in nearly everyday.

Good stuff!

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