How I Lost Nearly 100 Pounds Eating Pizza

When it comes to the never-ending quest to slim down, weâ€™ve all heard about the success of the Atkins diet and eating Paleo. But one New York City chef used a far more revolutionary method to lose an astounding 94 pounds: the Pizza Diet.

Naples, Italy, native Pasquale Cozzolino, 38, moved to New York in 2011 to work at Midtownâ€™s PizzArte, and he quickly packed on the pounds. The 6-foot-6-inch chef weighed a healthy 254 pounds when he first got off the plane, but his waistline expanded as he made efforts to familiarize himself with the cityâ€™s restaurants and turned to snacking to deal with stress.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write up about your past and current weight loss. This is great encouragement.

I started today. I’m gonna kind of do my own version of things. Things that work best for me. Not strictly low carb, but definitely cutting back in that area greatly. Cutting back signiicantly on sugars and HFCS. I don’t buy pop or a lot of sugary snacks anyway so I shouldn’t have too much trouble there. My goal is 50 pounds. Well actually 47 now. :) I will assess after 50 and move forward from there.

I love your idea about the dark chocolate. I was familiar with Green and Black prior, but had never tried their dark chocolate until I saw your thread about the coffee. I tried it after that. First I tried Lindt...not a good taste to me at all. Green and Black is much smoother and less bitter It’s great when you just need a small taste of something. I’m doing it in moderation.

Also, I’ve been trying coconut oil (internally and externally) lately as I have read recently and prior it has a lot of good benefits for health. One has to be careful though as it can have a laxative quality to it so it’s best to start out in moderation. I have had no trouble so far with it myself.

And tonight I’m going to buy myself a basketball. I never played on a team, but I was always good at shooting hoops. I’ll force my kids to go with me to a court. :) It was very good exercise when I used to play one on one with a friend years ago.

My goal is also to buy an outdoor fitness machine this year. I found it online in the Fall after seeing a lady on the trail with a different, more expensive brand. I used to jog years ago and this machine mimics that, but no stress on the knees.

I started walking for a time in September until about October this past Fall, but petered out when things got cold. I lost 11 pounds at that time. This is something I can do during the day, though.

Also, I think it’s really beneficial, in more than one way, to increase water intake. I need to get on the ball with this. I always get water when out and about, but sometimes forget at home. I should just keep some ready to go in the fridge. I like to put lemon in mine to freshen it up some.

And lastly, here are two threads I posted recently to IMGUR about the health benefits of coconut oil and dark chocolate:

Use your coconut
http://imgur.com/gallery/IT1F6

The darker the better: Why chocolate is good for you
http://imgur.com/gallery/HK3yi

P.S. I could help run a weight loss ping list on FR if there would be interest in it. I’m pretty good at researching/finding news things and see weight loss success stories at IMGUR all the time...just caught one a few seconds ago as a matter of fact. I find those stories to be very inspirational.

My mom called me yesterday very much in a panic. She had to get to PetsMart quickly. The reason: one of the feral cats she feeds is TOO fat, and she was worried for his health. The cat is BIG. He’s bigger than my mostly indoor kitty and my kitty is fat. I tried to explain to her that it’s good for this outdoor cat, out in the cold (she does have little houses for them to go into), to have the extra fat. He needs the fat and calories in the cold. He thins up every Spring/Summer. She kept insisting that he was going to get diabetes and have health problems. lol. Truth be known, the main reason was she probably just wanted to go out with me, but she does get concerned over the ferals.

I finally, FINALLY got around to making this cake last night. WHOAAA.
This is fantastic, Duchess!
We voted not to ice or put drizzle on it because we did bbq-ed chicken, tater salad, baked beans, etc & knew we’d be sick if we ate dessert on top of all that. But we did get dessert & it was just right.

;-) I may sneak a little hot fudge sauce on there tomorrow, though.

:-D Here’s a Thank You present in case you don’t have the recipe already. . .

Dairy Queen Hot Fudge

1 cup sugar
2 T flour
1/3 cup cocoa
2 T butter
1 cup milk

You can do a ‘’roux’’ first with the flour & butter or not. I usually add the flour & cocoa to the melted butter, then after that’s blended, add the milk a little at a time (to avoid it sloshing out)- all at about 3, 3.5 on a ceramic cooktop (probably about the same on an electric). Bring to a boil, stirring constantly & you’re there.

Thanks so much for this recipe!

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