I'll try to be brief. Been a lurker here for awhile and this is my first post. And damn, I feel like a grandpa at 40 years old with all you youngins around here :)
Quick history. Always skinny growing up. I couldn't gain weight, but didn't really try. As a kid into my late teens, I was very active. I played every sport imaginable and when I wasn't playing sports, I was outside skateboarding, BMX and Mountain biking, hiking, walking everywhere. Never had to think about eating anything..those were the days, right?
Around 16-17, I started smoking both cigarettes and weed and ended up spending the next 10 years partying pretty much all the time. Nevertheless, I was 5',11", 135 pounds the entire time. (I did develop an anxiety/panic/agoraphobia disorder at around 21 years old). Then, at 25, I got married and stopped partying completely. I never really drank before but have been a TT for about 15 years now.
In the first year of marriage, I literally gained like 40 pounds. So much so that my doctor did some tests to make sure something else was not going on. Alas, there was not, just the ol marriage poundage. I carry weight well in terms of how I look, but unfortunately the largest concentrations are in the worst spot - the belly and love handle area.
Skip ahead a few years and I eventually got up to about 215 and stayed there pretty consistently for about the past 7 years. I didn't like it, but it hadn't yet bothered me enough to do anything about it.
I live in the south, comfort and fried food galore. Everywhere, at every church and family function..needless to say a lot of my neighbors, friends, family, and coworkers are overweight. I realized awhile back when I casually tracked calories "just to see" that I don't really eat a lot of calories. I am not ravenously hungry usually and never binge eat. However, I had 3 major things working against me - 1.) I am was a Dr. Pepper fan, big time. I would drink probably at least 40-60oz a day! One good thing though is that I also drink a lot of water in between bottles of dr. pepper, probably the same amount or more. 2.) I work a fairly sedentary job. I am an IT Operations Lead Analyst for a large corporation. 3.) Even though I do a lot of work around the house (renovating, landscaping, etc. etc.), I didn't have any regular exercising going on. When tracking my steps, I was seriously deficient. I was getting an average of 2300 steps a day..freaking terrible.
Turning 40 in November really sort of messed with my head. While I truly believe that 40s are actually the prime of life (financially, career-wise, etc. etc.), it is still a pretty shocking milestone. At least for me it was. I wasn't happy with the way that I felt or looked and knew I would only start getting unhealthier as time went by unless I did something. Couple that with the fact that all of my pants no longer fit and I didn't want to go up yet another size (I was already on 38's). We have 2 calibrated analog industrial scales at work and I decided to step on it 2 weeks ago. I nearly lost my breath - 221. I have never been that weight in my life. I knew something else...this put me in the obese category. This was the final motivating factor for me.
I always felt that there is SO MUCH dieting advice, information, fads, etc. out there and I knew this is what stopped me from being successful at even losing a single pound so I wanted to start as simple as I could so that I could ease into it. My decision was to attack the 3 issues listed above. 1.) I knew if I tried to cold turkey dr. pepper, I would fail big time. It isn't so much the sugar part that makes it hard for me to give up as it is the carbonation. Now, I have tried SO many times to move to carbonated water, even bought a Soda Stream, but I just can't. I like water and I like carbonated drinks, but it just reminds me too much of beer honestly. I don't mind beer, even though I haven't drank in a very long time, but it was never something I drank for refreshment. So, I reduced my Dr. Pepper consumption down to 16oz a day, and later in the day when I would have normally drank more, I switched to Diet Dr. Pepper, which actually isn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. I know there is a debate about this, but I am of the opinion that moderation is key. I have also reduced my overall consumption of both regular and diet by doing this.
2.) CI - Reducing the Dr. Pepper really helped with my caloric intake, but I have also been recording all of my calories and paying A LOT more attention. As I said before, I already didn't really eat that much in terms of huge portions, so paying attention and making sure I simply knew what I was taking in has been working well without me feeling deprived and I think this is SO key. Before really working CICO, I always thought I had to make a huge change to like kale, tofu, veggies, fruts, and fish, etc. I do eat these things, but not as my staples for the day and if I tried, I would fail, for sure. About the biggest change I made is that after dinner, I used to usually always eat a cake, brownie, ice cream, etc. Now, instead I have stumbled upon the glory that is Chobani Peach Cobbler Flips. Granted, I know they aren't the lowest in calories, BUT way better than what I would normally eat..so again, small steps. My TDEE is ~2300, and I have been trying to stay at around 1800 calories for my intake a day.
3.) Activity/Steps, etc. I have a Gear S3 Frontier and an S9+ and actually use Samsung Health. I much prefer this over MFP (feel like i am in the minority here, but it works for me). Starting 2 weeks ago, I made it a point to get at a minimum 6000 steps every single day and 60 minute active time. I have a very busy and time-demanding job and home life and find that at least right now, I cannot make it a point to go walk for an hour or go to the gym etc. Nor do I really have the time to do much of a routine at home. I am a big fan of bodyweight exercising and training and in about another month, I plan on starting a few smaller things I can do fairly easily/quickly at home a few times a week.
My Home office, where I am most of the week, has a large manufacturing plant attached to the offices up front. I used to only stay in the offices area and sit on my ass essentially before. This has all changed. For the past 2 weeks, I have been getting in steps when I can (and I do walk quite fast by nature, so that helps). For instance, if I need to use the restroom, instead of going to the closest one to my office that is only about 50 steps away, I will go to the restroom that is the furthest away in the manufacturing area. Instant 800 steps there and back. If I need to go to the cafeteria/canteen, I will walk the long way around as well. In fact, many times, I will walk a circuit around, back past my office, and then keep going to get to where I am trying to go. Also, everytime my watch tells me I have been sitting for too long, I will get up and walk around the plant for 10 minutes. When it is time to leave for the day, I will put in my headphones, start playing a TED talk, podcast, or whatever and walk an additional 10-15 minutes to ensure I get at least (but usually over) my daily goal.
A few other small things that I do - when I or my wife goes to the grocery store, I no longer do the grocery "man carry" where I load as many bags as I can carry to reduce the trips. I now carry one bag in each hand and make 10-12 trips each. Hey, it's not much, but is it more than before and this is my mindset. On the weekends, when I am not at work, there is not really many places I can easily go to walk without it being a chore. I usually have to go to Lowes or Walmart for something, so when I do, I will first walk around the 4 walls on the inside for about 10 minutes to make sure I get my minimum activity in. People haven't started looking at me weird yet so I guess no one notices!
I noticed within a week that my pants were starting to fit every so slightly better, I could even go in another belt hole, but it would be a little tight. I hadn't planned on weighing myself every day or even every week. I am just not a fan of doing that and not sure it helps me to see such small losses. I finally walked past the scale yesterday at work on one of my walks and I was actually nervous to step up on it, but I did and it landed on 216! I was floored honestly, I was hoping for at least a pound of loss but 5 pounds in 2 weeks just making what I feel were such small changes and simply just paying attention made me feel really freaking good and motivated. I understand that the rate of weight loss slows as you go in most cases, but if I can lose at least a pound a week continuing to do what I am doing, then I have real hope for actually reaching my goal by the end of next year.
Damn, sorry for the length...I guess I have been lurking for so long, I had a lot to say! My whole point is that prior to this, I was always nervous about even attempting to lose weight because it just sounded so complicated, restricting, and overall not fun. I have since learned the CICO and keep it simple stupid methodology makes it much more tolerable. If you made it this far, thanks for reading!
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