Well, folks. I know it’s been a while but I think I can come back strong with some quality writing and some serious topics. As most of you know, I have what people call, a little bit of a weight problem. It’s something I’ve been struggling with since I was 15, and actually started to care about what I look like. That’s 8 years ago for your information. Since then I’ve been as low as 152 lbs. and as high as, measured anyway, 283 lbs. At 6’-2” tall, that’s just unacceptable. About 2 ½ years ago, I was at 256 lbs. I worked my butt off at the gym and got down to 224 lbs. Not as low as I wanted but I felt good and, in my not so humble opinion, I looked good. Now begins the sob story.
In November of 2005, when I was in the 220’s, my wife and I went on a cruise for our 2 year anniversary. Since then, I have been spiraling out of control. I tried getting back on track last summer/fall and I just couldn’t. But now, for the past month or so, I have been eating better and working out and being active regularly. Thanks to the help of the thugs on the DIME blog, mostly AK47spiderman, I have been held accountable for my actions. I have been completely honest with him because I want his help and it means allot to me. I know that seems weird to say about someone I’ve never met, but it’s true. It’s so much easier to confess to him and the rest of the bloggers here my shortcomings. So on May18th, I weighed myself for the first time since receiving help from AK47 and the rest of the DIME blog thugs. I weighed in at a hefty 256. So now, 2 weeks of eating healthy food, walking regularly, biking and working out at the gym, I weighed in at an even heftier 257.
I am putting this out there, not for criticism, but for help. And since AK47 mentioned it on Frank’s blog talk radio, allot of you probably have knowledge of the situation. What more can I do. I have cut out fast food. I know I need to cut out soda. And, while not working out at the gym as much as in the past, I am much more active in general. And as good as I should feel about that, I feel terrible. An obese, by definition, asthmatic does not feel good. When the most trivial physical task results in heavy breathing, a persons psyche takes a hit. I am literally at wit’s end over this.
I need help. And as odd as it seems, I feel better asking you all for help than my closest friends. What more can I do? My wife and I are expecting our first child, and I need to fix this before my child needs me to be active with him/her.
I know this has not been written with the eloquence of a MeanDovine, lisa4usc, Mr_Showtime, or Hoffman. But, as all great literary works, it’s written from my heart with a true desire to move the readers. Hopefully you will all forgive the serious nature of this post. I know that is not my strong suit. Hopefully as I get lighter, my posts will as well.
Shifty
I noticed that when I travel, my motivation to workout decreases and I have too much down time when I return. It usually takes me a month to get back on track after a trip so I feel you there.
Remember that muscle weighs more than fat. Don't be discouraged by the fact that you don't see a huge difference in the numbers. Your body is changing whether or not it shows on the scale. The worst thing you can do now is stop. You should begin to notice your clothes fitting differently or the neck fat allowing you to breathe a little easier.
I'm trying to take it one day at a time and not be discouraged. We'll see how the weekend goes. And in 2 weeks I'm going outta town on a 3 day weekend. That's when the real test will be.
The big thing is your metabolism. I dont know if im telling you anything you dont already know, but speeding up your metabolism is the key to lose weight. Exercise everyday, and mix in weight training too. Eat more smaller meals a day rather than fewer larger meals. And a big thing you can do is drink TONS of water. Cut the soda and drink water. As much as you can. It helps out your kidneys which in turn help out your liver which doubles the rate that your metabolism works. Burnin calories is the name of the game.
X - I do drink a ton of water during the day. I like your mix in weight training angle. That's something I haven't been doing. Excellent. Thank you. Now where's my plane ticket?
Shifty
When you get to the office in the morning do this:
Make a cup of green tea with honey. No sugar
Do some jumpingjacks, pushups or anything to get your heartrate up.
Keep walking to get your lunch when you can.
Eat your biggest meal in the morning so your body has all day to metabolize it.
Shifty
Green tea has antioxidants that help reduce cholesterol and is beleived to be good for anything from boosintg your metabolism to decreasing the risk of heart disease and cancer. I'm not a nutritionist but it worked for me. Everything in moderation, though becasue it still contains caffeine.
I am sorry about your problem. I hope that you are able to lose some weight so your future baby can have someone to run around with. I think that the key is exercise and diet. But mostly dieting. Try to subsitute snack foods with fruits or vegetables. Do you like to eat seafood? Seafood can help to lose weight as well. Good Luck with your weight loss.
Let me put my big brain to work for you. Go see an alergist. Many weight problems are because an indivudal has an alergy to some foods which interferes with the metabolism. Also begin walking at least 45 minutes every day, pick a time you are comfortable with and make it part of your routine. Then if you can throw some jogging into the routine when you are walking that helps. Eat a healthy breakfast. Breakfast turns on your metabolism in the morning. For other meals eat cereal a couple times of week. Do not eat out and if you do, make it a date night with your wife, then that way it helps you and pleases her.
Water, Water, Water. Also stop drinking all soda. If you have to have a soda drink root beer but cut back to one, once a week if you can. Drink other beverage with anti-oxidents.
Cut back on red meats, eat chicken, and seafood. if you like to lift weights do light lifting with repetition. DO NOT do heavy lifting it will make you hungry. When you feel the hunger urge drink a fruit drink (natural). Start taking vitamins. Once a month or more go get a deep tissue massage. It will clean out your system and it feels good and gets your muscles to react.
Excellen points, bayoudog. Please thank your big brain.
The deep tissue massage is an interesting idea. I shall have to give that a go.
The wife and I have started walking together nightly. It's nice and gives us time to talk. Love the date night thought. If I could only pry her away from her family...
Do crunches and push ups thru ought the day when you wake up knock out a good 25 of each.
In the army when we messed up we would have to do 40 push ups every hour in our office, in your case make it 20. you have your own office at work right? If not screw it and still knock out some push ups.
When your home watching the simpsons or basketball knock out 10-15 push ups every commercial break or every other break. One commercial break do crunches the next do pushups. You can do a variety of em for push ups you can do wide arm, regular, or diamonds(hands close enough to make a diamond shape), elevated pu, for abs you can do numerous different exercises to keep it from being stagnant as well
If your serious about getting fit then your gonna have to act like it. These walks sound all nice an all but come on man you need to get to runnin/jogging if you can run a full court basketball game you should be able to last for at least a 1 mile jog. Purchase an ipod ive found it much more relaxing workin out with one of them.
Before you go to bed knock out 50 crunches and try to max out on your pushups
The first couple days it will suck, you will be sore as hell and your reps will go down but after a few weeks you will get stronger and keep it in your routine
Just remember to always push yourself while working out,
DRINK LOTS OF WATER
& and always remember
PAIN IS JUST WEAKNESS LEAVING YOUR BODY
So fight for that extra block while running or that extra situp or push up
Ace - That is the most insightful/inspiring/sincere post I have ever read from you. Trust me that it means allot to me. All your ideas are doable and make total sense to me.
NO POP! Don't cut back but it out!
Water or low fat milk. Skim up to 2% but NO WHOLE MILK!
Make some pico de gallo. All healthy and good to snack on. The only bad is the corn chips but get the Mission tortilla strips.
shifty--as i said on dime blog today, don't be discouraged by the first few weeks. the beginning is when you will see the least amount of progress. your plan right now has been cutting your fast food, eating more healthy, and walking or biking a little bit. in the past you use to eat fast food almost every day. now that you are teaching yourself to live off of healthier foods you are making GREAT progress. on top of that you have been either walking, biking, or playing basketball almost every day of the week. this is a GREAT start. as pain said in one of the first couple comments, your body is changing whether it shows up on the scale right now or not. the key is to train yourself into this lifestyle of the way you eat and the way you are beocoming more active. eventually when you are really really comfortable with this routine, you can start setting a lot tougher goals. things like walking X miles per week, and actually running Y of those miles. we can layout specific goals for the week and help you through them. as much as walking is helping your body, to lose weight we are going to get you running miles eventually. 1 step at a time and never give up. it's like quitting smoking. you can be flawless for a month and a half. one slip up and one puff will put you back to your old ways. you got a good start going here the past two weeks now keep it up and keep eating health and NO fast food. make sure you eat breakfast like everyone has been telling you. i think you even mentioned once that you are not as hungry as you use to be. this is a good sign. this is only the beginning
one of the most sincere honest and heart felt blogs i have read .. took alot to come out and say that to everybody .. you are the man for that ..as you know i am a tad over weight myself lol 6'2' 228 ..
my advice would be to goto a diet doctor .. he'll do blood work .. will give advice like others have givn you .. do a body fat analysis .. give you good diet pills to help you lose weight to along with you're exercise program ..
the other big thing besides drinking water is to just stay consistant stick to you're sechduel
Shifty
PLEASE try to stay away from diet pills whether prescribed or OTC. That should be right before gastric bypass and I don't think you're there. If it's not natural, anything you put into your body can affect other parts of it.
also man .. we can offer all the advice in the world but the fact is none of us are medical doctors this really is something that you need to discuss with you're family doctor if you have not done so allready
Good for you! The first step is admitting there is a problem. Go online to the American Diabeties ####. or the American Heart ####. for diets. Don't do fad diets or diet pills--they'll only hurt you. Also, remember that this is emotional as well as physical. There are support groups online for people losing weight. STOP CALLING YOURSELF A LOSER. You are a winner because you are helping yourself. Best of luck and lots of hugs.
Thanks volfan69. I am not gonna be doing any fad diets. I am really trying to do this the right way. And I sorta consider everyone here part of my support group.
Thanks to all who have commented/encouraged/advised so far. I will be checking in periodically during the weekend and posting replies as my latino alter-ego, El_Shifto.
Get your fat #### off the couch and excercise. Ahhh, that's better! Gives my fat #### some room to stretch out while I watch TV and eat Cheetos. Get me a ham sammy while you're up, too!
Shifty - you know I'm kidding. From one guy upset with his weight to another, hang in there and stay strong. Maybe your motivation will motivate me to put the Cheetos back in the cupboard and get active.
I know it sounds corny, but God will use your experince through this situation to help others. Now get back to the gym and start breaking eye-sockets!
shifty ........ It's the hardest thing in the world to do to get yourself motivated to exercise and stay fit. But the thing to look at is what are the ultimate benefits of it all ? You'll live longer that's if you're not a smoker or a heavy drinker. And above all if you've got kids you'll want to be around to see them grow up. The best thing to do is to start off slow on an amenable fitness regimen that can be easily changed to meet your needs. Start off gradually and work your way up where you're feeling good within yourself. But above all don't overdo it and at the same time look for different ways to motivate yourself. It might even help if you've got a someone to work out beside you. It could be a family member or friend that can be at your side enjoying what you're doing and the same time the both of you are benefitting from it altogether. Keep up the good work !
tophatal - You touched on my main motivation for doing this. Being around for my kid(s). My dad died when I was 7 years old. He was only 38. But he was obese which led to severe heart problems which led to his death. I have a great step-father, but he can never, nor would he ever try to, replace my dad. I don't want my family going through that with me.
Thank you for stopping by and showing your support as I'm taking this on.
