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My Story
When I was about 38 ½ years old I was really feeling fat and sluggish, but I had extra time on my side during the week because I worked this strange schedule at my current job at the time which was Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 7pm to 7am.
During the rest of the week, I was a stay-at-home dad, and I was working on completing my degree. I was really successful in my schoolwork and professionally and I thought I would work on improving myself.
It was around February, and I was still sitting on an old gift card for $20 that I used on my first keg of vanilla protein powder from Walmart. I had watched a lot of diet and body building videos and I decided that was something I wanted to try for myself.
But I didn’t want to be cliche and not stick with it. So, for about the first two weeks I tracked my calories and watched what I ate. I used the fitness app on my phone MyFitnessPal.com. This was a great tool because I could scan the barcodes of my favorite food and then it would remember it as a favorite later on.
Then I just had to break it down into portions to record it. I wanted to see what it felt like to just do that and see how I felt. The first week I did not restrict myself at all.
I just recorded what I ate and what I thought were normal portion sizes for me that I would normally get. If I wanted seconds, I got seconds. I took it as far as weighing my normal servings too just so I wasn’t lying to myself.
I was really surprised by what some of the things I ate equaled in calories especially if I was getting seconds. It was an eye opener. I also was studying during this time. I had to learn what my BMI (Basil Metabolic Rate) was and what my maintenance calories were. This was the intake of calories I took in daily that kept me at my current weight. You can’t change what you don’t measure so to be in caloric deficit I needed to know what I consumed daily and then eat less.
Once I felt confident, I could track what I was eating I got a membership at the gym in town. This was great because at the time my work paid for a month’s visit if you provided signed paperwork of attendance of 12 days out of the month.
So, later when I bought a membership for a year that averaged out to less than $20 to $25 a month, I was getting paid $35 more from my company to attend. So, I made money for attending the gym and this helped to incentivize going.
I would use the extra money later on to buy a keg of protein powder once a month to drink between meals. I researched and researched trying to figure out a plan to work out and, but in an age of technology the best thing that worked for me was downloading and using JetFitPro on my phone.
This app provided workouts for men and women and different skill and intensity levels. When you begin a workout, it has pictures and short videos showing how the exercise is supposed to be performed correctly.
When you complete that rep of the exercise you enter the amount of weight and the number of reps completed and save it. Then it has a built-in rest timer between reps and sets. For me this was the best option for not using a trainer and to focus on my form and safety.
It was a lot of work and working out with lighter weights until I understood what I was doing and how my body worked.
Learning how to breathe seemed like a new concept too. I had to learn how to regulate my breathing and actually what I was looking for that was the new normal when working out, so I understood if I was working to my peak.
My plan was for 12 weeks to go from about 210lbs to 185lbs or a 25lb weight loss. I needed to average about 1lb to 2lb a week give or take. The first 6lb to 10lb were the easiest just because that was water weight.
I worked harder at planning my meals and meal prepping in advance also. Just because I was on this journey didn’t mean my family had to suffer with me. So, I would cook and eat normal for them and just control my portion sizes at dinner.
I wasn’t going to try to convince a 6-year-old and 8-year-old to eat chicken breast and raw broccoli for dinner every night. I made sure to have a big glass of water about an hour before every meal and at each meal I would drink another glass of water.
Sometimes to change it up at work or home I would get the flavored drops that tasted like orange or tea. I found over the days and weeks I could feel myself getting hungry or understanding my hunger cues better especially when I was eating or snacking every two to three hours.
Snacks were usually cinnamon or plain salted great value roasted almonds and a protein shake. I would usually get the vanilla flavored because I could add things to it for taste.
I would add things like PB peanut butter powder, or orange flavored Metamucil (this helped with fiber and going to the bathroom because I was eating so much more protein and less carbs), and instant coffee that dissolved in water.
Over time I was able to spread my workouts into 45 minutes to 1.25-hour sessions. This was something I could never do in the past. I felt like I belonged there when I went and was excited to go there even to make small changes and improvements. Eventually, I was able to meet a personal goal of benching my body weight and more. In about 14 weeks I met my goal weight. I was very proud. I set out to do something and I accomplished it.
I felt great. My skin looked great. I didn’t get winded doing simple tasks and I understood more about what I was putting into my body. My clothes seemed to hang off of me and fit better. The point is don’t get caught up in the goal and enjoy the process. We have one life and one body. Take care of it.