Half the Man I Used to Be

Not quite half, but a good bit lighter.

In February 2010 I stood on a scale at the gym. My visit to the gym had been prompted by how poorly I was feeling. We were awaiting Isaac's birth, so life was pretty stressful and I was spending very little time on fitness or healthy eating.

So I felt lousy, and realized that I needed to start exercising again. The easiest way to do this was to run periodically, which I did. Ours was not a house for dieting, given the pregnancy, so that was the extent of my efforts for a while. My starting weight? 267 pounds! The highest I had ever measured.

I would run when the kids were asleep, and very rarely in the morning. never more than 3 times in a week, and rarely for more than 1 mile, at least at first. This small effort bore some fruit, so that by August I was down to about 250. By this time Lacy was ready for us to work together, so we started following the plan put forth in Bill Phillips' Body for Life. This meant eating 6 small, healthy meals a day, and exercise six times a week. I won't go into much more detail, as I want to focus on the results. I will say that for us, it has been an extremely successful plan.

The last time I weighed myself the scale said 204.9. Over the months between August 1st and the Christmas holidays I only missed six workouts in a week 2 or 3 times. We followed the eating plan pretty closely, with some small aberrations here and there and some big ones over Christmas. We've dealt with a lot of sickness since the holidays, but I've managed to better my goal and now have a new goal to be less than 200 pounds.

I plan to accomplish this by increasing the intensity of my cardio workouts and eating more fruit as the carb for my meals. I like to think that my brain works differently now, that it won't be possible for me to slip back into those terrible habits of sedentary living and unplanned eating. This will require diligence, because the slide downward did not occur overnight either.

The bottom line is that I was fat. Seem harsh? To put it in perspective, one year ago I weighed 30 PERCENT MORE than I do today. My old pants are enormous. I can't imagine ever fitting in them. I had several pairs altered back in October, and all of those are at least 2 inches too large in the waist.

My main incentive to keep the weight off is that I feel great. I haven't been at this weight since high school, and I'm convinced that I am healthier and more fit than at any other point in my adult life. It is easier and more fun to play with the kids, I can run more, and faster than ever before (I am not a runner). It has truly been a transformation.