Unfortunately, this is me in March of 2008. I weighed in around 285 pounds! Most people told me "you don't need to lose weight, you are just big. For a long time, I believed what people said about me. After all, part of own perception comes from the way others perceive us. The issue, regardless of what people said about or to me, I still felt terrible about myself. Those of you who know me best, know I secretly love the idea of tininess. Trying to fit myself in small spaces is one of my favorite past times. So in trying to lose weight, one diet that seemed awesome was Atkins Diet. Who wouldn't love to eat meat, cheese and bacon everyday?
The Atkins diet was successful for a little while as it helped me lose about 25 pounds! Unfortunately, that diet was not the answer for me, seeing how I gained about 30 back. Boo. I began believing weight loss must only be for those beautiful TV people who took a pill and lost weight "fast." There had to be a way to lose weight the right way, but the right way seemed to be hard and I normally run away from hard.
Last year, mostly out of a lack of options, my wife and I became enthralled in the NBC's reality TV show, The Biggest Loser. I normally do not get a big kick out of overtly obese individuals working themselves to death in front of a national audience, but somehow something caught my gaze. Maybe it was the large pink spandex (non-gender specific, since it is impossible in most shots to tell the difference between male and female legs), the effeminate male trainer (Bob) or the masculine feminine trainer (Julian), or NBC's incredible ability to combine inspirational music, slow motion, and a slice of cheesiness Zach, Slater, Kelley and Screech would have appreciated. Whatever it was, I feel in love with the show, the characters, the trainers, and even the pregnant soap opera star host.
So. I basically decided, in a nutshell, I was sick and tired of whining and crying about wanting to lose weight. I was tired of wanting to be healthy, of wanting to help eliminate future medical costs, and I was tired of not accomplishing this simple task. I really felt like if I could learn some self control, exercise regularly, and watch what I ate, then I could lose weight. This is a program I devised on my own, but since November I have lost almost 50 pounds. So take the following information with a grain of salt. Hopefully my experience will help you in your weight loss journey.
You Must Decide. You can't fail at this. Weight loss is the key, dudes. You will not only impact your life, but the life of family, friends, random people you meet and so many more. With the first step, you must start educating yourself. We found reading "Eat This Not That" by David Zinczenko a fantastic starting point.
Join a Gym. Sorry to inform everyone out there in Blogger Land, but you will never be able to lose real weight and keep it off without exercising. Since I began losing weight on Nov. 22 2008 I have been working out about 200 minutes a week burning about 3000 calories weekly. I have been heavily involved in Spin Class which has drastically changed my workouts. I spin about 2-3 times a week and burn about 800-900 calories in a 50 minute session.
Get a Heart Rate Monitor. As part of second step, I would recommend getting some type of heart rate monitor (HRM) that keeps heart rate continuously, and keeps track of calories lost. Its really important to get a HRM for a few reasons. The most important is that while you work out, you know how hard you are working out. To find your maximum heart rate take 220 and subtract your age (for me it would be 220-25=195). I try to work out between 160-170 which is 80% of my maximum heart rate. I do this because I want to get the maximum potential for my workouts. Now I made the mistake of not doing my research (which cost me in functionality), but do some research. You can spend as little as 40.00$ or 300.00$, it just depends on what you are looking for.
Food Scale. Alright people, I know you are thinking, but yes, if you are to lose weight, you have to control how much food is going into your mouth and a food scale has greatly helped me in losing almost 50 pounds. For example, I eat Honey Nut Cheerios (not meant for product placement, just calling it like it is). Now, I love Cheerios, which are only 110 calories for 28g but guesstimating has only been useful in guessing how many m&m's there are in the over sized jar on your 5th grade teachers desk. You guys must be accurate in keeping track of calories, fat, protein, carbs, sodium, etc.
Sparkpeople.com. This website is immensely helpful in helping you track your consumed calories. This website has it all, and I encourage you to take some time exploring it to help figure out all they have to offer. Sparkpeople has an enormous database of food information that is quick and easy to use. The website helps individuals achieve their goals by, tracking calories, minutes exercised, and daily caloric requirements. Sparkpeople will use all of your daily nutritional information for tracking individualized plans. When I first started, I could eat around 2300-2500 daily calories. Now, I am within about 7 pounds of my goal weight, and I can eat about 1900 -2200 calories.
These are a few things that really helped me achieve my weight loss goals. I will follow with the major changes I have made in my diet in another entry, but I hope this will give you a place to start.
