Friday, August 31, 2012

Welcome to Miss Shrunky Dunk

"Never be afraid to fall apart because it is an opportunity to rebuild yourself the way you wish you had been all along." - Rae Smith

Approximately 10 months ago, I stepped on the scale. I weighed in at 307 lbs. At the time, I was preparing for a trip to Ireland and Spain with four dear friends. I knew there was no way I was going to follow a diet plan while in Europe, so I didn't even want to bother starting one before the trip.

While traveling, I ate and drank like a glutton. Irish bacon, speck, cheese, stew, countless pints of Guinness, seemingly endless sangria, paella, lobster, mussels, chorizo. On top of all of that, I'm sure I had an entire bakery worth of bread during those ten days.

Upon my return home, I was sure that I would have gained weight. I hadn't done nearly as much walking on this trip as I had on previous trips to Europe. I stepped onto the scale thinking I would consider myself lucky if I had managed to maintain my weight during the trip. I was shocked to see that I had somehow managed to lose a little under five pounds.

I had to think about how that weight loss was possible. I definitely did not get in a lot of exercise, some walking around the towns we were in, but not a significant amount. The only factors I could attribute the weight loss to was that I ate less processed foods, no fast-food, and I did have a nominal increase in my daily activity levels.

I was inspired to continue the weight loss.

At that time, I sat on my butt for well over eight hours each day, at a job that I really wasn't satisfied with. I liked my coworkers, the paycheck, and the benefits, but I really didn't like the job itself. Every day I got fast-food for lunch. After work I would venture down to my favorite pub to try to erase the stress of the day with many pints of beer.

My initial changes were the most obvious:
1. Drastically cut back on fast-food.
2. Increase activity level.
3. Cut back on added sugars and fats.

All pretty basic, common sense, solutions, right?
Why hadn't I been doing them all along?

My first change was to cut back on the amount of coffee I drank. Since I use the flavored coffee creamers, and drank at least five cups of coffee each day, that added up to A LOT of extra sugar and fat. I limited myself to one cup each morning. After that, I switched to green tea with Splenda - black tea if I was still feeling sluggish.

For lunches, I would previously get fast food every single day. I still went through the drive-through but would get a salad.

I stopped searching for the closest possible parking spot at the store - walking an extra 50 feet is not an imposition.

These initial changes resulted in a very slow and gradual weight loss - 24 lbs in about five months. That was where I stagnated. I knew that if I was going to continue to lose weight and get in better health, I was going to have to join a gym and/or cut back on the beer.

In early June I walked into Crunch and signed up. And then I didn't go. Then in mid-June, I lost my job. About a week later, I finally went to the gym. Then a week later, I actually went again. Then I signed up for personal training sessions.

That was one of the best decisions I could have made. By paying someone to go through a work out routine with me, I was being held accountable. I couldn't stay at home on the couch watching old episodes of Frasier on Netflix if I had an appointment with my "Personal Torturer."

It has paid off well. In less than two months with my personal trainer, I have lost another 20 lbs, and about 4.5% body fat.