If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
This originally appeared on 15 October, 2007. This site had about 17 readers then, so I’m reposting it now so that more people can have some information about where I’m coming from.
We were supposed to wait until January 1, 2008 to launch this blog, but I’ve decided that I can’t wait. My resolution at the beginning of this year was to weigh less at the end of it than at the beginning. I’m back up to where I started after losing 12 pounds earlier, so it’s time to do this now!
Who am I? I’m fat guy #2. I’m 33, 5′10″ and weigh 221 pounds. According to this, I am obese; It’s a depressing fact. But still, I don’t look at myself in the mirror and say the word. I realize that I’m fat, and have been for much of my life–but I have a hard time attributing the word “obese” to myself. Maybe I’m still in denial.
I’ve been a yo-yo dieter for as long as I can remember. My first diet was my senior year in high school. I lost 30 pounds by starving myself and working out with the baseball team. In college, I put on a lot of weight, but I was still very active. I worked out, played IM sports and pick up basketball. But, thanks to beer, the taco truck and my fraternity brothers, my intake definitely exceeded my output. By the time I graduated I weighed 228 lbs. I dieted again, this time with medical and pharmacological help. I saw a doctor who prescribed the now banned “miracle” drugs, fen-phen. I am using the term “miracle” because for me they did work miracles. These drugs working together helped me drop 50 pounds during the summer of 1996 without any of the very negative side effects. I was thin again, and in shape, and loving life. From 1996 to 1999, I managed to stay relatively thin. I worked out, and often rode my bike to work. We moved to Portland in 1999–I still worked out, but not as much. I was learning a new career and putting in long hours on top of the 60 minutes in the car each day. I started gaining weight as soon as I moved to the Pacific Northwest. I’ve dieted several times since I’ve been here. I weighed 190 pounds when we moved here and now…well you know how much I weigh now.
I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a quick fix kind of guy. If fen-phen were still legal, I’d be downing those puppies in a heart beat. They worked wonders for me. They suppressed my appetite, and pepped me up. I hardly slept at all that summer, but I dropped 50 pounds in 10 weeks. It was amazing to see how fast the weight could come off. In fact, I wanted to drop more; It was addicting. Obviously, quick fixes don’t work long term for me. I need some lifestyle changes. Instead of losing weight fast and gaining it back over the subsequent years. I’m going to concentrate on a slow and steady approach to GETTING FIT SLOWLY. I’m going to change my life. My immediate goals are to drop 1-2 pounds a week while increasing muscle tone and cardiovascular shape. I’m no exercise guru, I don’t have any experience with personal training or the exercise industry. I’m going to be totally winging it with one thing in mind. I want to achieve a daily calorie deficit by controlling what I eat and exercising as often as possible. Come with me as I embark on this journey of personal improvement. If you have the same quest as me, I hope that I’ll be able to give you all encouraging words and find some useful tidbits to help you.
This isn’t just about sticking to a new year’s resolution. I have two kids and a wife–they love me and want me to be around for a while. I love them and want to be around for a while. I want to help my kids make good lifestyle choices. I want to set good examples for them. I’m afraid that at my current rate of weight gain that I won’t be able to be active with them in the near future–this cannot happen. I want my wife to want me. I want to walk down the street with my shoulders back, unafraid that my manboobs stick out too far. I want to fit into my 34 (or even 32) inch pants. I want to be confident about my physical appearance. I want to be healthier. These are my reasons for get fit slowly. What are yours?
J.D.
5 responses so far ↓
1 brad // Jan 18, 2008 at 5:54 am
I want to fit into my 34″ trousers too. My inseam is 34″ and at my healthiest my waist was 34″ too. It’s an easy combination to remember and a goal to shoot for. Right now I’m at a 38″ waist, the biggest I’ve ever been. The rest of me is thin and trim, it’s just my belly that’s big; I inherited my father’s physique: tall and skinny, but with a gut. I don’t even have a set of scales in the house and don’t track my weight: for me it’s all about waistline. I measure progress by how loose my trousers are. And they’re getting looser! My goal is to get back down to size 36 by the end of this year, and to 34 next year.
2 Dave Child // Jan 18, 2008 at 6:29 am
I used to wear 30″ trousers when I was 19. I was in shape then. Closer to 38/40″ now, but working back down slowly.
Getting fit slowly has to be the way to do it. It’s the only way that makes sense - that will lead to long-term health rather than yo-yo-ing.
It looks to me from your last weigh-in that you’ve been dropping about a pound a week - congratulations!
3 greenman2001 // Jan 18, 2008 at 6:46 am
Mac, you seem to be having great success with your plan. What’s different about your approach this time compared with past attempts?
4 Manda // Jan 18, 2008 at 7:56 am
We’re planning to try for a baby starting this summer. So my reason to get fit slowly is to be firmly in a healthy weight before we conceive. That way I can have a healthy pregnancy and (crossing my fingers) it will be easier to regain a healthy weight after the baby is born.
5 Brigid // Jan 18, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I think I’m a poster child for the get fit slowly concept. I’ve lost 30 pounds over the course of 10 years. That’s 3 pounds a year, but just think where I would be if I had done nothing!
I’m still not to my goal weight (22 lbs. to go), but I feel great, I can run a marathon (3 so far) , I’m rarely sick and no longer have the ache in my hips and lower back that I thought was the onset of athritis.
Nothing really helped me until I started thinking in terms of “gaining a healthy body” instead of “losing weight”. This way, the pressure was off me to attain results and just focus on actions one at a time.
Leave a Comment