Me: 40/M
Height: 5' 11"
Starting Weight: 335lbs
Current Weight: 232lbs
Diet: Uhhhh... CICO? Mediterranean? I'll try to describe below.
Exercise: 1 hour of low(ish) intensity cardio 5-6 times a week. 30 mins of weight training 3 times a week.
My Story: I've struggled with weight basically my entire life. I've weighed as little as 169 lbs (in college) and as much as 335 lbs. A healthy weight for me is around 200 lbs.
Years of a very crap diet and using food as a coping strategy caught up with me in the form of a triple threat: gout, kidney stone(s), and high-ish blood pressure (135/85 most times). None of those things were immediately life threatening, but it all pointed to increasing health problems on the horizon. My A1C/Blood Sugar/Cholestrol were all fine. No matter how okay my health stats were, though, I was always convinced that I was going to suffer from a heart attack sooner rather than later. I worried about it constantly. If I drank a coffee and felt the most minor palpitation, I'd start sweating and freaking out and deciding that this was it... the big one...
Besides all the worrying, I felt like total shit most of the time. I couldn't walk very far, wanted to sleep constantly, and basically lived for the moments where I didn't have to move my body. It was miserable. My wife and I took a trip to Japan-- my dream international vacation-- and I spent the majority of the time off my feet because of a gnarly case of plantar fasciitis. It sucked.
So cut to January 2nd and I'm in the bathroom, sitting on the cold tile floor, and having a little 3AM freakout about my weight. I'd started envisioning my future: thinking about how one day I'd have a heart attack and then start the inevitable cycle of hospitalizations. And the worst part is that I felt solely responsible. This was my fault. I'd abused my body so much and now there was no going back. That's how I felt. I was 39 and obese and simply didn't have the will to change it. Why bother?
Everything felt impossible. I felt trapped.
And here's where it gets weird: Suddenly, there was a scratching at the door. I turned and opened it and in trotted my cat, Bean. She's a shaggy gray Persian and she's usually pretty standoffish and never seeks out my attention. But suddenly she advanced right towards me, meowing the entire time. She started padding at my legs and she climbed up into my lap. Tears strolled down my face and tumbled onto her fur. She looked up at me. It was bizarre. And through my sniffles I had this weird thought-- this, like, momentary epiphany-- what if my cat was trying to tell me that I /could/ lose the weight? What if I just took this as a sign that I could get off this horrible weight-related merry-go round and make a change?
I know that sounds nuts-- and NO, I don't actually believe that my cat has magical powers-- but I do believe in the power of stories and I decided to tell myself a new one: I was going to accept the power of my cat's feline spirit and lose weight. No matter how long it took, no matter what I had to do, I was going to remember this empowering moment. I was going be honest with myself and make a change.
Here's the core of what I did:
- Started doing very low impact (eliptical mostly) cardio at a slow speed but for a long duration (1 hour, 5-6x a week) and weights every other day.
- Started eating 80% of my food in the form of fresh produce (apples, carrots, red peppers, blueberries, broccoli, bananas, kale, etc.). This required me to start going to the supermarket 2-3x a week (which I still do).
- Started eating fewer processed foods. My quick rules for processed foods is to look at the ingredients on the label. If I could find all those ingredients in the store, it meant that I could actually make the food myself and I'm just too lazy. That's fine because it means that the food isn't highly processed. If the food had weird stuff that I can't find (red dye #5 or like multixylerglobate or whatever), I didn't buy it.
- Started eating much less meat in general. I'm now at 4x meatless days (I eat soy/plant-based) and eat chicken/shrimp other days.
- Here's the big one: Admitted that I'm a food addict and recognized that I'll never be able to enjoy food with wild abandon the way I used to.
- Another big one: Reframed my vision for how good my meals should generally taste. In America, I feel like we become conditioned to expecting our meals to taste like an 8-10 on a 1-10 scale. I've tried to get used to eating an average tastiness of more like 3-4. It has completely reset my palate. An 8-10 meal is a special occasion.
That's the core of it. Here's been the results:
- For the first few months, I didn't even count calories. I lost 60lbs in about 5 months at a rate of 3-4lbs a week.
- Eventually the weight loss started to taper down to 1lbs a week, so I started counting my calories. I now use a combo of MyFitnessPal and my Apple Watch and I eat 1850 calories a day. I'm back to losing 2.5lbs a week.
- I feel amazing. I can hike, I can walk far, I can enjoy the sunshine, and I don't feel like I'm constantly going to die. I mean, one day I definitely will die-- but I won't feel like I haven't at least tried to live a healthy life and avoid an early grave.
- I feel muuuuuuuch calmer. My resting hr is a 52 and I've got a great post-exercise heart recovery. ;)
- I'm planning to lose 25-35 lbs more and then I'll just maintain.
- The hardest part of all of this was just starting. Tell yourself a new story!
* Note: I also did consult a doctor about my plans.
Okay, that's it. I know that what I did may not work for everyone, but it worked for me. Feel free to ask any questions.
