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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Food Addiction

Food Addiction Blog

This blog is about food addiction and overcoming this debilitating disease. As one who fought with food addiction for many years, I understand how overwhelming this addiction can be. Having won my own battle, I wish to help others do the same. Feel free to register and begin posting your own entries. Together, we find strength in numbers!

Blog entries categorized under Excercise

Update on The Book

by Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione is the co-author of the book, Who Is This Guy? The story of a 500
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on Monday, 24 March 2014
Excercise 0 Comments

 

We have almost finished writing the book that I have mentioned in previous blogs and the book proposal will be out to prospective agents soon.

To give you a brief overview, the book is about my life story in the first person.  A story of a nearly five hundred pound man with poor eating habits from childhood and a roller coaster ride, at times, of uncontrollable eating through adulthood.  It includes successes and failures at trying to manage my life and you will see how this out of control behavior extended to and affected other areas of my life.

The book consists of alternating chapters with my co-author, gastric bypass surgeon, Dr. R. Armour Force, a renowned specialist in bariatric surgery with over thirty years experience.  Dr. Forse’s chapters provide the medical point of view as it relates to the challenges of a person with overeating disorders.

The book is about more than just obesity.  Obesity is often a symptom of problems much deeper.  The fact is that all people with overeating disorders have underlying issues.  It is also a book about commitment.  The book points out that a total commitment to changing your life by changing your eating habits, including exercise as part of your day and addressing your underlying issues provides long term success.

Stay tuned for more information on the publishing date which we hope will be by mid to late summer.

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Made it Through Thanksgiving

by Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione is the co-author of the book, Who Is This Guy? The story of a 500
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on Sunday, 02 December 2012
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Well I made it through Thanksgiving day and the weekend too, which included my granddaughter Chloe's 2nd birthday party. The fact is, I am in such a zone right now that I had no problem at all resisting temptation.  I ate all of the traditional Thanksgiving foods such as turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and an assortment of vegetables.  What I did not eat was gravy, bread and butter or the tremendous assortment of desserts that were offered.  When it came time for dessert, I was prepared.  I unwrapped my own homemade pumpkin cake which, I  know, is made with healthy ingredients and contains 130 calories.

Fortunately, my gym opened at 5:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning so I was able to get my normal workout in before I went on to give thanks at a few different locations.  I ended the day singing happy birthday to Chloe but not having any of her Mickey Mouse birthday cake.

I still have 5 weeks to go to make it past the most difficult time of the year for me.  I feel very confident that I will make it this year and am aided by the fact that I am very busy at work.  I find that the busier I am, the less I think about food and, therefore, the less I eat.  My weight right now is 193 lbs.  Last year at this time I was 192, so the week before Christmas I thought I would try various desserts.  I was in such a groove, I knew I could get right back on track.  I was wrong, though, and I am determined  not to make the same mistake again this year.  Last year's mistake caused me to battle with cravings and a weight gain of 7 to 12 pounds that I spent 6 months trying to lose in addition to trying to regain my focus.  Lesson learned!

I will keep you posted of my progress.

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How Physical Acvtivity affects Me

by Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione is the co-author of the book, Who Is This Guy? The story of a 500
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on Monday, 17 September 2012
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Physical activity does four things for me.  First, it speeds up my metabolism so that I burn more calories; second, it suppresses my appetite; third, it increases my energy level, and fourth, it makes me feel good about myself and the way I look.

Exercise, depending on its intensity and how long it lasts, will elevate your metabolism anywhere between one and several hours after you have finished your workout. In other words, you will continue burning calories at a faster rate than normal after you have stopped working out.  One of my goals over the past 11 years since my surgery has been to change my body composition by increasing my muscle mass and reducing body fat. I have accomplished this through strength training (weight lifting).  Increased muscle mass increases your body's fat-to-muscle ratio which boosts the rate at which you burn calories all the time, not just after exercise.

In my case, exercise suppresses my appetite.  I am just not as hungry as I am on the days I do not exercise.  Plus, you have less time to eat if you are in the gym for two hours.  I choose to exercise early in the morning for two reasons:  I am never too busy at 4:30 in the morning and it jacks me up for the whole day.  I feel great after exercising.  Of course the exercise alone will not work if you don't employ a sound eating plan along with it.

I encourage you to see your doctor before starting an exercise program.  Start slowly and get proper instruction on the use of the equipment to  avoid injury.  Let me know how physical activity affects you.

 

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More About the Book

by Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione is the co-author of the book, Who Is This Guy? The story of a 500
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on Thursday, 23 August 2012
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Since my recent blog in which I wrote, "I think I will write a book," I have had much encouragement to pursue this idea.  I have contacted the surgeon who performed my gastric bypass surgery in January 2001 and we are talking about writing the book together.  My story would  describe living a life with food addiction, binge eating disorder, obsessive compulsive personality disorder and a host of other"issues" and the surgeon would offer the scientific and medical logic as to why these conditions exist and how they impact patients like me; patients he has encountered in his nearly 35 years of practice in the field of Bariatrics.

My life has been a very interesting journey.  We plan to take you along as we tell my story from high school to the present day.  I am 62 years old, and in the proposed book, I will be sharing the many highs and lows that I have experienced along the way. There have not been too many periods in my life that I can remember where I seemed to have it all under control.  I am not talking just about my eating disorder, I am also referring to my business life, with its successes and failures, my personal life, where I have demonstrated that a lot of work is needed to "get it right" and my every day life and how my addictions, or compulsive behavior have had such a strong impact in all of these areas.  I was 50 years old before I even had an inkling that I had a problem that could be fixed with the right kind of help.  Now, twelve years later, I feel that maybe in another five years or so, I might have it all figured out.  Of course by the time I figure it all out, i will be entering a time in my life where I will have new things to factor into the equation of a balanced life.

I am very interested in what material you may find helpful if you were to read such a story as I've outlined above.  I would welcome your input as the doctor and I move forward in outlining the book we have in mind.  A book that, we hope, ordinary people will relate to and find help in dealing with these issues.

 

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I Think I will Write a Book

by Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione is the co-author of the book, Who Is This Guy? The story of a 500
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on Sunday, 08 July 2012
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I consider that my gastric by-pass surgery as a tool to change my life has been a success.  It has been 11 plus years since the surgery and I am the same weight plus or minus ten pounds that I was when I reached my goal.  As I have written in many blogs to date, I still struggle from time to time and I am still learning about those triggers that can cause the struggles.

I have been in communication with the surgeon who performed my by-pass surgery back in January 2001 and we are planning to write a book together. The book will basically be a story of my life and the struggles with obsessive compulsive behavoir generally and obsessive compulsive eating specifically.  Controling my behavior as it relates to eating has been a problem all my life and at age 38 I had a life changing moment that made me commit to do something about it.

I tried and failed at many attempts to figure out the problem and to find a soloution and never hit the mark.  In late 2000 I finally decided I could not do it without help and some extreme measures.  That led me to the decission to visit the surgeon who immediately inspired my confidence that this was a problem that could be solved initially through surgical means in conjunction with permanent life style changes.

The book will outline and highlight those life style changes and the successes and failures since surgery to try to manage my life so that I can live my life.  Even as I write these words I know that I still have a lot to figure out if I am to remain on the right track as life is very dynamic and many of the life style changes that are working for me now will have to be changed as I get older.

Stay tuned, more info about the book will follow in the next few months.  Anyone with questions or ideas that would make this book more readable please comment

 

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Fear of Getting Hurt in the Gym

by Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione is the co-author of the book, Who Is This Guy? The story of a 500
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on Monday, 30 April 2012
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A major element in the continued success of managing my weight and eating habits is my exercise program, which, as I've mentioned before, is self written.  I am as ridiculous about getting to the gym and performing my scheduled exercise program as I am about the eating program itself.  As always, I break my program into 13 week segments.  Over the past several years I have pre-habbed (prepared for surgery) and rehabbed from three shoulder surgeries and a bilateral knee replacement surgery.  I have worked through various ailments such as stiff necks, sore backs, wrist pain, forearm tendonitis, pinched nerves in the thumb, hamstring pulls and other problems with my feet and ankles.  Each and every time, I have been able to make adjustments at the gym to my grip, gait or the level of weight I use, to find a way to keep going until I have worked out the aches and pains and the problem disappears.  I find that I feel better and the ailment improves more quickly if I stick with my program and continue to use the affected joints or muscles. 

About five or six weeks ago, I suddenly developed a problem that, at first, I thought was a hip problem. I have never had a problem with my hip before.  I tried working through it for a couple of weeks and when it didn't get any better but, in fact, got worse, I made an appointment to see my doctor and he scheduled an x-ray and an exam on my hip.  I told the Orthopedic doctor that it seemed to move from the hip to the lower back to the glute muscle and sometimes to two areas at the same time.  He said the good news was, the x-ray showed that I did not have a problem with the hip but that it was also the bad news because now I need an MRI to see if it is a pinched nerve, a disc problem or something else.

However, I am still going to the gym.  My workouts are less intense due to the restrictions I must impose on myself to minimize the resulting pain caused by the workout.  I feel pain for most of the day after my morning workout, which is something I've never experienced before.  I try to adjust my schedule and not go to the gym on Friday if I am playing golf that day(again, a new adjustment to my schedule) because the combination of exercising and golf causes me severe back pain.

As always, I am fearful of any changes in my routine.  The only changes I have made so far have not been made by choice, but out of the necessity of dealing with my medical problems.  The current routine works, and I don't want to take any chances by changing to a different routine if I can help it. What would you do? Please share.

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Working Through The Pain

by Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione is the co-author of the book, Who Is This Guy? The story of a 500
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on Sunday, 11 March 2012
Excercise 0 Comments

If I decided not to go to the gym on days that I was feeling discomfort or pain, I fear that I would never go. I always seem to be dealing with one problem or another.  It might be something wrong with my feet; either a callous on the bottom of my foot or a soreness in the instep that becomes a pain on the heal of one foot or the other.  My right wrist bothers me more often then not. I need a third surgery on my left shoulder that I am putting off because there is not much they can do short of a replacement and I'm not ready for that yet.  I seem to have chronic problems with muscle spasms in my lower back. I had both of my knees replaced seven years ago and from time to time I have inflammation and soreness due to overuse. Recently, I had a bad bruise on the inside of my right thumb which made it painful to grip the bar or dumbbell in the traditional way. As the saying goes, if its not one thing, it's two.

Through it all , I continue to get up in the morning and go to the gym. You improvise, you adapt and you do what you have to do to get through the workout.  I change my grip to take pressure off my thumb.  I limit my range of motion and never let the barbell travel behind my head.  I keep my thumbs up on lateral moves and I listen to my body and take it easy on my back when I need time to work through an issue.  I regularly see the foot doctor to scrape callouses and cut my toenails to prevent problems.

My fear is getting hurt to the point where I am unable to go to the gym.  I work through all the issues mentioned here because I find that I feel better working through the pain and using the parts that are causing me problems, rather then resting them.  They seem to lubricate and, consequently, work better when I use them.  Age may have something to do with it.  Long term use may actually mean that wear and tear is catching up with my 61 year old body.  But, I am undeterred because the great feeling I get from being fit is worth the pain.  I know that I will continue my five or six days a week in the gym for the rest of my life.

Tell me how you deal with your pain and discomfort.

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Still struggling

by Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione is the co-author of the book, Who Is This Guy? The story of a 500
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on Tuesday, 14 February 2012
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Two more weeks have gone by and I am still trying to get back on track. The mornings start out good, but by noontime I start to feel the cravings begin and  have not been able to control the urges to eat those foods which are not included in my planned eating program.  I am at the point where I am getting angry with myself for being so stupid as to think that this time would be different; that this time I could stray from the plan just a little bit and get right back into it when I was ready.  Didn't ever happen that way before, and there's no reason to believe it will happen that way now.

I think that because I at least understand what is happening to me now, I can catch myself before too much damage is done. I am holding right now at 194 pounds, which is up two pounds.  I am deeply concerned about this problem and this little slip-up is very distracting. I devote way too much of my time each day to resisting temptations and cravings and I am having only moderate success.  I have been eating sandwiches and pizza in addition to my cottage cheese and tuna for lunch and one morning I had a bran muffin.  After dinner, I have been eating nuts and pretzels in addition to the normal bowl of bran based cereals.

I am desperately trying to get my focus back.  I know that if I can just get six or seven perfect days in a row, the cravings will go away and I will be back to focusing on eating right.  I am most comfortable when I am on the plan.  I am able to spend more time improving my business, enjoying my family, friends and hobbies and improving my relationship rather than worrying about loosing control. 

Do you have the same problem?  Please share how you deal with it.  I need help and any new insight I may gain from others is always appreciated.

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Holding on but still struggling

by Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione
Nick Mirrione is the co-author of the book, Who Is This Guy? The story of a 500
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on Saturday, 04 February 2012
Excercise 0 Comments

I am now five weeks into this struggle of staying focused.  I haven't lost it, but I am certainly out of the groove I had been in since early July of 2011.  I have given in to temptation and eaten some things that I consider "trigger foods" which I had been staying away from completely for the last six months. The struggle goes on, with a couple of good days followed by a bad one. A good day is a day of strict eating, taking in around 1800 to 2000 calories of clean foods.  On a bad day I may hit 2700 to 2800 calories by eating stuff like a cookie or toast with butter and peanut butter or pizza in addition to lunch rather than for lunch.

I have kept my weight at 192 to 193 pounds, but it is not easy anymore.  When I was focused last year, it was effortless to maintain. The non-trigger foods that I ate exclusively did not make me crave the wrong foods.  I was never hungry, and, in fact, I had to eat at scheduled times to make sure that I ate enough each day to reach my proper caloric intake.  Now, I have this energy drain.  A person only has so much energy to expend each day. I probably have more energy than most people my age, but I am more at ease when that energy is directed at improving relationships with loved ones, improving my business or focusing on recreational activities. When I am struggling, that energy is used to fight off urges and I become consumed with fear and concern over loosing control.

It's a lot of work to stay focused, but it can be much more work to get your focus back if you loose it. I will keep you posted on how I am doing and I welcome any input, ideas or methods you or someone you know may have that has helped.

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