Over the last year or so I have put on some serious weight. I have gone from 185 which is still considered a little heavy for my height to a whopping 222. The other day a friend of mine sent me a link to a body mass index calculator. I typed in my stats and the result, I am obese. I have become one of those people that you see or hear the statistics about who are candidates for all kinds of bad things happening like heart disease/high cholesterol/diabetes/high blood pressure and so much more. I have even heard that fat people don't live as long as not fat people do.
One of the worst things that has happened is that I have become a snoring person. I mean, i saw some serious logs. My wife is out of her mind dealing with me snoring.i have been kicked to the couch and she has even slept on the couch because i kept her awake.
I do very little exercise. I mean I try from time to time but do no follow through at all. Like at the first of the year i set up the treadmill in the basement with a shelf to use as desk. I worked there one day after walking and working 10 miles and burning a thousand plus calories my body went into revolt. for the next 3 days i was in serious pain. Muscles i didn't even know existed hurt.
Something has to change. My energy level is lower than it has ever been. I am usually a high energy person. Now i just feel fat and slow. I used to have a great body too. I was slim and fit. I could run 5 miles no sweat. But over these last few years I have just blown up.
My esteem has dropped too. I used to have so much swagger. Now i just don't feel as comfortable in my fat body. I feel self conscious. Even some of my friends call me fat. "Dude you are fat." or "hey fat boy." . I don't like this. Not one bit.
So there ya go. I am not feeling good about how I look or feel. The only way i know to change things is to change things. So what do I do to lose weight? I figure dieting just doesn't work for me. I've tried. So I listened to someone who has lost a considerable amount of weight over the last year and took their advice. I joined a calorie tracking group.
My Fitness Pal, is what i joined. I went online and signed up. I even downloaded the ap for my phone. I started on Wednesday and i am eating better already. Just tracking what I am eating is making me think about it and be deliberate. I wanted a steak and potato Thursday night along with the bacon wrapped dates and lobster bisque. but I chose another way i had the dates and the bisque. I normally would have said oh well I will start losing weight tomorrow. That is a mantra of mine.
So far so good though with the calorie tracker. It even tracks activity. It may not seem like a lot but did you know that walking around/marching around the dinning room table with my 2 youngest girls for 5 minutes burns 21 calories? I didn't. Cleaning the house for 20 minutes at a lite moderate pace burns 83 calories.
What i really like is that the program is set up to track the consumption but gives you back calories for activity. It's kinda like a bank. If I want to eat that then I need to either go make a deposit in my calorie bank or plan for it and make sure i don't burn through my calorie allowance. It's been interesting.
I know I am only a few days in but I can already tell a difference in my attitude and my level of engagement with this. It doesn't seem too hard. I plan on sticking with this as best i can. The goal is to lose 2lbs a week for 8 weeks. that will get me to the non obese space. still overweight but not ready to die any day. I mean I am going to do this.
My goal is 40 lbs in total. I think I can do it this year. Anyway it wont be easy at all. Because i love to eat and drink. Alcohol is a killer too when it comes to calories. As I babble on about how I am going to achieve my goal, know one thing. I am a believer in change. I know if i can change the way i think about eating and exercise then i can learn to do them well.
Watch out world this fat boy is going to get skinny. Share with me if you will any succes stories that you have in regard to weight loss and getting your swagger back.
