There is nothing better for finding out how to do something than to see how others have done it, especially if they have been successful.
Over a year ago I weight 180lbs, for a man of 5’9” I was overweight, in fact I still am, but we will come to that later. I noticed that since I have stopped playing sport I had started to put on some extra weight. At first I didn’t fully realize it was happening and I happily continued to do the things and eat the food that I always had. Of course eating the same amount of food and reducing my activity was a recipe for weight gain.
In my mind I knew this, I knew that if I kept eating the things I was easting I would put weight on, but I didn’t want to believe it. I was enjoying stuffing my body with all this nice food and drink, I was enjoying eating and drinking, so what was the problem.
The problem came when my clothes became tighter and tighter and I started getting out of breath just walking up the stairs. You might be reading this and thinking 180lbs how can that be a problem, that’s not overweight! OK, compared to many people it is not that bad, but you have to put it into context and from my starting point. The sad thing for me is that I know I have been lighter and surely that means I can be lighter again, I’ve just got to change.
When I realized what has happening I decided to do something about it.
The first thing I did was to measure where I was, in my case 180lbs, fairly easy. Next thing was to set myself a reasonable target. I decided to lose 6lbs in the next two weeks. Looking back now I realize that was too easy, though of course for anyone losing 6lbs in two weeks may not be easy but should be attainable given a bit of desire. What I also didn’t know at the time is that you can lose a lot of weight just by drinking less water, and you can lose it very quickly.
Third thing was to work out how I going to lose the weight, in this case I decided to cut down on the amount of food I was easting, especially the unhealthy stuff. I also found my running shoes and started jogging.
I found that I really enjoyed the jogging, whereas in the past when I had done it I often got bored. This time I think I set a route and ran it, without stopping or giving up and was mentally strong in doing it. I also didn’t run too fast, which is a quick way of being worn out and being able to complete the route. I found myself running up to 3 or 4 evenings per week and I kept this up for many weeks, perhaps about 3 months into total.
My eating regime also changed and instead of having full meals I would eat salads and soups and I found myself cutting back on almost everything.
Sadly though during the weekend I would go out for a drink and have a few beers and this did knock me back a bit.
Initially I lost lots of weight and quickly got down to about 170lbs, but because of the weekend eating and drinking the next few pounds was very difficult to lose. The lowest weight I got to was 166lbs, which was one stone less than when I started. I felt great with myself, I also felt thinner, you could see it in my face.
The trouble I had was that I went on holiday and my new regime had to stop. I ate too much, drank too much and put a lot of the lost weight back on. After returning from my vacation I lost the drive to continue and ended up 6 pounds or so heavier. Over time my weight has crept back up to 180lbs.
What I have realized now is that you cannot simply start a diet, get to your ideal weight and keep it there without making some lifestyle changes. I now know you need to make some serious habit changes to the way you eat and exercise, and incorporate them in your everyday life, as if they are normal to you, otherwise you will eventually go back to your natural state and put the weight back on.
Since my experiment with losing weight I have made some changes and have noticed that I am now 170lbs and falling slightly. This weight of course fluctuates with my food intake and activity level, but for the last few weeks it has been very slowly coming down.
What has happened you are wondering, what has changed in my life to improve my weight. It’s really simple, I have cut out eating sugary foods. I have stopped eating dessert after my meal, stopped eating cookies after a cup of tea, stopped snacking on chocolate bars etc. I have often replaced these things with a glass of water or a piece of fruit. The really good thing for me is that I can now walk past the biscuit barrel and not feel like dipping my fingers in for a cookie. The first thing I do after eating a meal is not to open the cake tin, but to put the dishes away or make a drink. Of course I have not cut all sweets out completely, because there are times when I can have a treat, but I find I no longer yearn for a chocolate bar as I once did.
Now I need to increase my activity, and get off this PC and stop spending my time writing articles for you to read. I also urge you to shut the PC down and get active, and stay active.
Good luck.