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and into Onederland!
So, what's my story? How'd I do it? Does anyone care? Find out below! (Editor's note: no offense meant for anyone who was or is bigger than I was, this is just what motivated me)
About 3-3 1/2 years ago, I really noticed that I was starting to hate the way my clothes fit. I was starting to hate the way I looked in pictures. For years I'd be "a little overweight", cruising along at 210-215 lbs. Now? Now I was starting to look fat. It so happens around the same time I caught a rerun of The Simpsons called "King-Sized Homer". For those of you not familiar, Homer attempts to gain 61 lbs to hit 300 and qualify for medical disability at his job. It's fantastic, go watch it if you haven't seen it. We'll wait here.
Good, wasn't it? Anyway, back on topic. Shortly after I saw that rerun, I stepped on the scale. 242 lbs. Quick math: 300 lbs -61 lbs = 239 lbs. I was fatter than Homer Simpson. The character who was iconic in the 90s for being a fat oaf. Yikes. I sprung into action...for about 3-4 months. I cut out sweets, pop, cut down carbs, etc. Ate a lot of salad. Forced down veggies I didn't like. Success! Back down to 215. Eh, that's probably good enough, right? I don't need to do any of that diet crap any more...
Fast forward to January of this year. 2 kids later, my wife is feeling self-conscious and wants to lose some weight. Being supportive, I say we'll do it together, I could still stand to lose some weight too. But I wanted to do it the right way. I wanted it sustainable and long lasting. I wrote down 3 goals:
- 214 lbs - I would no longer be classified as Obese
- 199 lbs - Under 200 for the first time in almost 20 years
- 185 lbs - Just seemed like a good target at the time? 16 lbs to my first goal, 15 lbs to my second, 14 lbs to my third. It made sense at the time.
I've since revised this to my goal weight being 179 (no longer overweight BMI), then to 175, and now I'm thinking 172 for a nice round 70 lbs lost. We'll see how I look and how I'm feeling when I get there.
How'd I do it? Come on...you know the answer to this. I moved more and I ate fewer calories. In rough order (though the first three happened at about the same time):
- Portion control - probably the biggest one. I was eating too much, no question about it. Especially at lunch when I would go home and have leftovers and it was often "this is too much for one meal, but not quite enough for 2 so...I'll just eat it all". Now I have a small breakfast, a small lunch (usually 1/2 or at most 2/3 of what I was eating before) and a pretty solid dinner.
- Slowing down - I'm a fast eater. I wasn't enjoying my food by savoring the taste, I was enjoying it by cramming it in as fast as I could so I could eat more. Why enjoy the taste of that taco when I could eat it fast and jam another down on top of it before I felt full?
- Walking more - The past 4 days I've done more than 40,000 steps. That would have been about 15-16 days worth of steps for me a year ago.
- Stop snacking - no more late night raiding the fridge. No more chips while I'm sitting and watching TV. I still have some chips and dip on the weekend watching football sometimes, but that's it.
- More veggies - we experimented and found ways to cook some veggies I've never really liked in ways that taste good.
- Less bread - one breadstick instead of 3. Don't put those meatballs on a meatball sub, just eat them, etc.
- Less red meat - More chicken. More turkey. More veggies.
- Learning my body signals - just because I'm not uncomfortably full, doesn't mean I'm hungry. And it's okay to be hungry for a little bit. If I start getting hungry for dinner at 4:30-5 I will survive till 6:30 when dinner is ready. I don't need anything to tide me over.
What didn't I do? Give anything up. This week I had steak, potatoes, and waffles for breakfast one morning. I've eaten pizza, fajitas, chili and cornbread, teriyaki drumsticks with ranch, full calorie pop, beer, bourbon, cookies, candy, and ice cream. I don't feel restricted. I don't feel like I'm missing out. I'm not on a diet.
Thanks for reading my rambling, for anyone who made it all the way through. Everyone have a terrific Friday!
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2EWnHqN
