What a Difference a Year Makes!
Posted on Sep 01, 2009
This blog generally focuses on technical stuff but I wanted to share
something that has made a huge difference in my life. Last year, around
August, I decided it was time to turn around my own personal health and
well-being. As a person who has been perpetually overweight throughout
my life, I was used to looking heavy in photos. However, I noticed in
recent photos what I felt was a change from being overweight to being seriously overweight. For the sake of my kids, my wife and myself, I felt I had to stop this worsening situation.
Anyway,
as I think you can see from the photos on this post (and as many people
noticed at CFUnited this year), a year later I have lost a significant
amount of weight (close to 60 pounds so far). I have gone from a size
40 waist (often tightly) to a 34 (comfortably). A lot of people at
CFUnited were asking me how I did this, and the truth is, there's no
secret - I exercised more (as in at all) and I ate less. I am sure
there's nothing original in here but what follows are the strategies
that worked for me and if they might help someone else, I thought
they'd be worth sharing.
Set small achievable goals
When
you are significantly overweight, as I was, you tend to focus on the
goal of losing 50 or 60 pounds, but that can simply lead to frustration
and failure. I found it easier to focus on smaller goals that I could
achieve in a shorter amount of time.
However, this didn't just
apply to total weight loss. I found it worked for even more immediate
goals such as getting over the motivational hump when exercising. For
instance, I would focus on getting to the 15 minute mark or the 200
calorie mark on the treadmill and then once there set my sights on 20
minutes or 250 calories and so on.
Focus on the Trend Not the Day to Day
If
you weigh yourself frequently (which I did), it's easy to get
frustrated by the day to day fluctuations in your weight. I found that
using a sensitive scale my weight would fluctuate by a pound or two and
often in ways that didn't make sense given my exercise and calorie
intake. I became helpful to think of my weight like the stock market,
where you should focus on the overall direction rather than the
day-to-day fluctuations (only in this case, negative is good :). As
long as the overall trend over the course of a week was down, even if
slightly, I tried not to get drawn into worrying about the daily
changes.
On another note, I hit a number of plateaus throughout
the process where my weight would be stagnant over the course of a
couple weeks. These can be frustrating and I wish I knew what caused
them but, again, so long as the trend is still headed in the right
direction, try not to focus on these.
Use Smaller Plates and Portions
My
wife gets credit for this one, which she saw on TV or something. The
idea is that its easier to keep to smaller portions if you use smaller
plates. I was skeptical at first but I think it actually did work.
Another thing we did was get a lot of these "100 calorie packs" that
they offer. I found for my lunches and even for "dessert" it was easier
to control my portions if I stuck to a prepackaged amount. As you
always hear, I used fruit and vegetables a lot to make the meal more
filling (rather than my usual which focused on pure carbs). I didn't
have a particular diet I followed honestly - just plain old portion
control mixed with making healthier choices (no pizza or McDonald's
unless it was a grilled chicken sandwhich with no mayo).
Learn to Enjoy Working Out
Sure,
this sounds simple and obvious, but I was someone who never liked
exercise and never did it. Going to the gym seemed like a chore to me.
Nonetheless, I was able to find things that I did enjoy (and didn't
force myself to do much of those that I didn't). I actually like
jogging/walking on the treadmill now and use the weights as a personal
challenge. I find that working out gives me some much needed time to
think and focus - which is rare when you have 2 young kids.
I
will end with a final note on kids. I used to use them as an excuse -
that when I was home I was too busy watching them. It turns out though,
that they don't mind at all that I exercise and often enjoy keeping me
company while I am downstairs on the treadmill (just keep a close eye
on the little ones) or playing at the YMCA while I am upstairs working
out. In fact, I think this is extremely good for them in a number of
ways: 1) because they can learn good habits that I didn't; 2) I have
much more energy to play with them and 3) I am healthier and, God
willing, I can be around longer for them because of that.
Comments
Posted By todd sharp / Posted on 09/01/2009 at 3:40 PM
I find it's best to find one small thing that's bad about your lifestyle, and get rid of it. Then add one small thing that is helpful, and stick to it. It's kind of a lifestyle recursion loop, hopefully without a BREAK.
Posted By Chris Mallinson / Posted on 09/01/2009 at 3:43 PM
Congratulations though, I have a huge amount of respect for people who are willing to commit to something like this and see it through, shows a good strength of character.
Rob
Posted By Robert Rawlins / Posted on 09/01/2009 at 4:13 PM
Just as you say you need to start off slow. I applied that not only to exercise but on cutting down on the bad things I would eat. For example, I would drink 2-3 Sprite's a day, maybe not daily but enough that it was a problem. You can't just all of a sudden stop, that makes it worse! You need to cut it down say to 1 a day for 1-2 weeks, then 1 every other day, and then further.. its gotten to the point where I no longer think about it. I only have 1 on Friday at lunch for a treat and whenever I go out to eat, which I hardly do.
That's another thing, you have to cut down on going out to eat so often. Cooking your own food is a better choice as you know what is going in the dish you are making. Great tip on fruit! Try to fit it in more to your eating habits. Find fruit you like and have it more often. I eat fruit now for breakfast so I at least consume it daily and every week buy what I like: apples, grapes, bananas, strawberries.
Sadly, after time your weight loss is stagnant because your body becomes accustomed to the same exercises you are doing. You need to change it up. I have the same problem as I really enjoy running/walking but you need to mix in other cardio activities to continue putting off weight.
I had been overweight myself. My highest was 180-185. I went down to about 140 or so which is just in the weight range for my age/size group. Again congrats!
Posted By Javier Julio / Posted on 09/01/2009 at 4:23 PM
Congrats on your commitment, dedication and sensible approach. There are no substitute for eating better (and less) and moving more. Common sense rules! No miracles, simply results!
You and your family should be very proud.
Gene
Posted By Gene Babon / Posted on 09/01/2009 at 5:29 PM
Posted By Steven Erat / Posted on 09/01/2009 at 6:53 PM
Posted By Will Wilson / Posted on 09/02/2009 at 7:02 AM
If time is tight, the kids can be the exercise. Play soccer in the yard, chase them around the playground, wrestle on the floor, push the littler ones in the stroller, etc. And have you tried push-ups with a kid on your back? Who needs a weight bench? :)
Posted By Matt Williams / Posted on 09/02/2009 at 9:48 AM