On April 1st of this year, I stepped on the scale and weighed in at 266 pounds. 25 of the 30 days in April I ran on the treadmill. Toward the end of the month I had to take three separate days off because I was afraid I was going to injure myself, and for two days I was too sick to do anything let alone run. On April 30, I weighed in at 241, for a total loss of 25 pounds. Not quite the 30 I’d aimed for, but a smashing success nonetheless.
I considered that month a “boot camp” for myself. I’m 6’1″, so 266 pounds didn’t make me obese or disgusting but it was too much weight and I didn’t feel good. Most importantly, I was unhappy with myself for letting myself get to that point. Losing the weight was an important part of the success of that month, but the real victory was that I made a commitment to change my habits and I stuck with it.
In May I eased up on myself, and also joined a local gym so I would have access to more equipment and wouldn’t be relying to heavily on that treadmill. That didn’t work out, and I should have known it wouldn’t. Getting up early to work out at home is a lot easier than getting up early to drive five miles and work out in a gym full of strangers who seem to be in the way all the time. I ended up only using the exercise bike when I went so I wouldn’t have to stand and wait for equipment. Eventually I just stopped going and then cancelled the membership.
Over the summer, the eating habits I had put in place began to slack off. There were also a few weeks in there where I didn’t even work out at all. I intended to do another boot camp in July, but we had some trips that interfered with that, and it was just too easy to let things slide.
In mid-July Anita and I had a good conversation about our health and our goals for fitness. We made a commitment to each other and have been getting up at 5am at least five days a week to workout since then. We added a recumbent exercise bike and a weight bench to our little home gym, and really turned it into a great dedicated space to focus on physical fitness.
Our Little Workout Room - Panoramic Photo
This morning I weighed in at 245 pounds. That’s four pounds more than at the end of my April boot camp, but I know it’s muscle weight and not fat weight. I’ve actually gone from a 2XL t-shirt size down to XL. My workout habits are consistent now, which I am also really happy about. But there’s still room for improvement.
I’m thinking of September as a “challenge month” rather than a boot camp. I’m going to step up my workout schedule to 40-60 minutes seven days a week. Now that I can rotate between the treadmill, the exercise bike, the heavy bag and lifting weights I won’t have to worry about overdoing it with one body part. And if I do need a break, I will be able to do an easier workout on the exercise bike.
The second part of my September challenge will be to stick to a strict diet like I did in April. I have a list of healthy breakfast and lunch meals to chose from. Breakfast will be my big meal, and it will consist of things like high fiber cereals, oatmeal, yoghurt, low fat cottage cheese, fruit and egg white omelets. Lunches will be things like rice and fish, hummus and pita bread, sushi, garden salads and fruit. Dinner will be whatever we normally have, but smaller portions. A slice of pizza instead of three slices, for example.
I will be drinking only water, and lots of it. Giving up my morning cup of coffee will be the biggest challenge for me. I don’t drink much pop, milk or tea. I will also be keeping cheese, breads and salt down to the minimum. With the exception of grapes, there won’t be any between meal snacking. I do plan to have one serving of desert during the month when we go out to dinner on my birthday, but it’s a planned thing, so I won’t think of it as a failure.
The third aspect of my challenge month is to attempt to read 10 books that will in some way contribute to my overall improvement. I’ll be finishing my current book today, so I’ll be able to open a fresh one tomorrow. The first book on my list is Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace which I am actually a couple of chapters into already. I may also pick up a copy of Tony Robbins’ Unlimited Power, which I partially read about fifteen years ago, and I’ve got a Buddhist book by Lama Surya Das to read also, but the title escapes me right now. The rest are up in the air right now, and I’m going to be open to suggestions. Leave one in the comments if you have any good ideas for me.
So that’s my plan. That’s my September challenge. I’ve planned out my 30 days in the hole and I hope to come out of it a slightly better person.
Here I am…ready? I am impressed by your dedication, planning, commitment, strategizing.(love this not- a-word)….Here are the pro and the cons about that: while you are breaking cold turkey some bad habits and some addictions, a very structured strict plan it’s difficult to stick to. I would add to your plan some “safety net” measures, like…. if it happens that you brake some of your own rules what are the penalties. Set up also some rewards.Personally, what works for me is moderation in everything I do: I do not have a physical training schedule that leaves me exhausted and I know I will not be able to keep up in the long run, and I never fill myself to the chin.Eat at home 99% of my meals and go to restaurant for food that I can not cook or as a special treat. I only drink water or tea, occasionally have some coffee (why not?) and half glass of wine at dinner . Depriving yourself of something that you love will not work. just have it in moderation.Because there is so much controversy about different types of food that are good or bad for you I would have a bit of everything without stressing to much over it. I have a dislike for prepared food with preservatives , I balance a meal with a bit of bad and a lot of good, so I do not feel deprived and the good will take care of the bad. I am no model, but at 5″6 I am 134lb. when I work out I weigh 136/137. so ,my golden role: a little of bad ..with a lot of good. What about joining a volleyball or basketball team? You would make some friends that probably have some good “living habits”…just maybe… and have fun while keeping in shape.
For me, doing a sudden break from a habit I want to change is the most effective way. My “diet” for the month is really nothing more than the kind of diet that I know I should always have.
It is not a diet of deprivation, but a diet of good eating habits. There’s enough salt in food that I absolutely don’t ever need to touch a salt shaker, but I’m not going to freak out and go 100% salt free or anything. I just want to reduce it as much as I can comfortably.
I like Cheese, but I’ve gone a month without it before and I didn’t miss it, so giving it up for September shouldn’t be any big deal for me.
The coffee is more about caffeine. Part of my overall health goal is to lower my blood pressure naturally. When I lost 25 pounds I was able to stop taking blood pressure medication and acid reflux medication.
Months before I did all that, I also very slowly weened myself from the antidepressant I was on for years. Being physically healthy is directly related to my mental state. I know some people actually need medication, but for me it was just treating a symptom – exercise treats the core problem.
Going from 5 days of exercise to 7 each week is more about reinforcing a good habit than anything else. I think there will be physical benefits too, but structure is important.
As far as joining a basketball game or something like that… just not something that interests me. I’ve never been a team sports person. Even when I was a kid, the only sport I ever did in school was track, and the only sport I followed was professional bicycling. This was in the Greg LeMond era, long before Lance Armstrong made cycling popular.
My reward will be to have lost weight, to feel better, and to know that I accomplished something. That is the best reward I can think of.
I like your replay and I know different things works/motivates people. The core issues/personalities are just different . One step at the time sounds realistic and good.You have succeeded were someone else would have given up at day 3. and here is where the “but” comes.If you do not want to have serious set back u need a “life plan”.Right now you are working on “let’s get out of this hole plan” and it is really good , for now. Your short term plans can be the trial/ experimentation for what you really like/enjoy most or really suck. what works can be transferred automatically to your life long plan .The sun is bright. laying down on the sofa with a big bag of chips and a cold beer it’s soo tempting….so I could name another 1111 things.After you reach your goals what will stop you from regressing?THAT is something to think about .
Because the goal is not the point of my doing these things. The point is to be healthy and fit on a long-term basis. I am doing this challenge month to continue to firm up the habits I’ve formed already and to introduce new ones.
My first goal with all of this happened in March when I decided to faced up to feeling miserable all the time. I was brushing a lot of things under the rug and just not dealing with the reality. I knew I was fat, so I just didn’t think about it. I didn’t like being on blood pressure medicine, but just kind of had a vague plan to someday do something eventually. It is easy to find other things to occupy your mind when you have something you don’t want to deal with.
So I had to turn my focus on what was happening inside my head and admit that I wasn’t dealing with things, then take inventory of all the things I didn’t like, write them down on paper and figure out what I was going to do to fix those things.
My second goal was to take all that information and change the way I was thinking about everything. To do that, I had to put myself on a mental diet of good information. I cut back my consumption of politics and news drastically. I looked at a few things I’d been wasting time and energy on and discarded them. I went through my email address book and facebook friends list and deleted a lot of people who have nothing positive to contribute to my life. I started reading again, both for pleasure and to learn ways to help myself.
So my April boot camp was an important goal to accomplish, but it was just a step along the path, and not the first one. My September goals are not the end goal either, they are more steps along the path to my destination. And in a lot of ways, the destination is like the horizon – no matter how far you travel, there will always be farther to go.
Talking openly about some of the things that I am doing is a very helpful part of all of this too. It keeps me motivated and makes it a more “real” thing than just having everything in my head.
For a moment there I thought you were just a old fart trying to loose weight and going to fail on plan C like all the other weight losing/on a diet/ people. You are going through a complete life changing experience. That would work.
As always a good write up and excellent goal! Keep it up my friend….