Small Changes Work
This was a magazine cover back in the beginning days of Facebook and Twitter— I don’t use either— notice they asked me to drop in the Twitter bird on his belt.
A thousand years ago I was in very bad shape. I was about 60-80lbs overweight— no joke. I was in my late twenties and I had ballooned up to a size 40 waist and a size 48 suit (i wore suits everyday then). The doctor had my BMI at 38 which is bad— but I also had a lot of muscle so my 235lbs was probably less bad than it sounded at 5’10”.
I decided enough was enough one day and I started really dieting and working out— I didn’t enjoy either and the progress was slow. I remember at first the weight dropped off— pretty soon I had shed 15lbs and then everything just slowed. I’d have weeks where I lost nothing, a good week would be a loss of 2lbs. I was discouraged. Someone pointed out that losing 2lbs was like losing two packs of butter— and that made a connection. I’d lost approximately 2 gallons of milk off my body— (each one weighs roughly 8.5lbs)— and that did a lot to help me visualize. I knew as I crossed over into my 30s that I was set for a life of diabetes, knee and hip replacements and assorted other issues if I didn’t get things fixed.
During the more drastic stages of the process I used a standing desk. When I sat it was usually on a Yoga ball. I ate egg whites and dry toast. I drank my coffee black. Lean chicken was my go to meal along with some kind of vegetable. I would allow myself to cheat once every two weeks. Snacks had to be fruit or nuts but eventually what did the trick was a food journal. Writing down every single bit of food I ate uncovered the truth— I was eating about 500 more calories a day than I thought I was.
I finally got to about 185lbs, which was just a few pounds over my high school football weight of 179lbs. My waist was now at 34/35 and I felt a lot better.
But I still wanted to try to get to a healthier weight— I was now approaching the end of my 50s and for the first time in my life I shot to be thin. Those closest to me said I went too far when I ended up at 150lbs— so I worked to put on a few more but I’m staying at 165lbs with a 31/32 waist and a 40 suit size. So how did I do it?
1- I started slow. I exercised with weights but I did it in increments— at first I only did 10 reps, then each week I added 5 more reps until I was at 100 reps. I’ve since broken it down to do four sets of 25 reps every other day— so 100 reps of weights and twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday I did 2x hitting 200 reps on those days.
2- I stopped taking seconds under any circumstance. Often times I’d be so hungry I’d grab my plate of food, eat it without even tasting it, and then getting seconds to actually enjoy it. I slowed it down, I put my fork down between bites. I enjoyed the meal and I let my brain catch up to my stomach. It helps that I have always hated being full— that’s the worst feeling in the world. I hate that more than anything.
3- I drank a lot more water— especially with meals.
4- I took walks after dinner— this was a big help too.
5- I allowed myself to cheat but I still stuck to the rules— if we got pizza, I took two pieces on my plate and that was that. No seconds.
6- Eliminate junk food and processed foods— if it comes out of a package don’t eat it.
7- Keep that food journal and review how you did. Have a very bad day today? Tomorrow would be all salads. Planning on Pizza night on Friday? Make sure Thursday and Saturday night had a lot of vegetables in the meals.
It worked for me, and if you’re struggling with the same thing it can work for you. Just take it slow and be kind to yourself.
