Beginning of a lifestyle change

dynamics517

Hey everyone,

I'm a 24 year old male, 5'4", and am currently weighing in at ~176 lbs. I've always been overweight. Going into college I was about 165 lbs, and upon graduation I was about 180 lbs, and for the most part of 2013 until now, I hovered around 190-195 lbs.

For the longest time I knew that I needed a lifestyle change, but each time I tried, it would never last for more than a couple weeks. Anyway, something recently happened that gave me an incredible amount of motivation to make a lifestyle change.

I work 50 hours a week on my feet as a manager for a fast-food restaurant. Apart from that, I didn't really have any other physical activity in my life. My boss is a marathon runner, and with an upcoming race in late April, a lot of my employees were signing up for various races. I decided on 3/15 to begin working out and tracking my calories. I told my boss to sign me up for both the 5k and the 10k, and for the first time I decided to go for a run.

3 miles later, I found myself on the floor of my living room, panting heavily, unable to move or focus, and extremely dizzy. In short, I felt as if I was about to die. After several minutes, I got up and painfully climbed the stairs up to my room. In the midst of pain and suffering, I still felt as if I had made a huge accomplishment.

Fast forward two weeks to today. I ran 7.2 miles with a significantly faster pace than my first run, and I felt great at the end of the run. I went down from 190.2 lbs to 176 lbs. I've been maintaining a workout schedule of cardio for two days, and strength training for the third. I've been extremely meticulous in counting my calories and haven't succumbed to any binges (it's especially hard when working around food all the time). I feel much more energetic as well.

In spite of all this progress, I still struggle with whether what I'm doing is "right." I've spoken with a great number of my friends who are work-out fiends, physical trainers, and nutritionists. I've scoured through these message boards for answers to many of my questions. In the end, it really seems like for every person fully convinced of one thing, there's another person who opposes it. For every study proving one thing, there's any study debunking it.

I want to go into this lifestyle change the "right" way, at least, whatever is right for me. There are lots of conflicting messages I encounter though, which is really making it difficult in what I want to integrate into my new lifestyle.

The biggest issue is regarding the type of diet I should have. There are people who swear by a diet like ketosis or paleo. I have a friend who keeps telling me to buy Usana and that it's THE #1 way to lose weight. There are those who say it's only calories in vs calories out that I should worry about. Some say it's only the macros that matter in the end. Some tell me that there are good carbs and bad carbs, but some say that all carbs are the same. I am bombarded with every kind of opinion and it's tiring to be told that their way is better than what I am doing right now. As for me, I'm fine eating whatever I want in moderation. I won't avoid a candy bar on the principle that it's all simple carbs. No, I avoid it because instead of blowing 300 calories on a small candy bar, I would much rather eat a lettuce wrap of veggies and meats and cheese which is much more filling! I will eat bread if I want, and considering that I'm Korean, I love white rice as well. I love cheeses and prefer fatty cuts of meat. Again, I do this all in moderation, and despite losing 15 pounds so far, I still have people constantly telling me I need to cut out more carbs from my diet, and need to only eat lean meats.

Here's the thing, though. I'm not miserable. Yeah it sucks to give up on some of the finer indulgences life has to offer. I won't lie and say I don't suffer from cravings. I would kill for some ice cream. My only concern is regarding my net calories which is anywhere from 0-600 per day due to the hundreds I burn from running. It seems like the only thing people really agree on is that we need to consume an adequate number of calories.

Honestly, I feel okay. I don't really struggle with hunger. I feel fine running (I've logged 15 miles the first week and 22 miles this past week). I feel fine lifting (I'm steadily increasing weight and reps). But still I figure I need to increase my net calories.

I split my goal into two phases. The first phase is to go quickly from 190 lbs to 150 lbs, the phase I'm in right now. The second phase is to go from 150 lbs to 135 lbs at a much slower pace (1-1.5 lbs / week).

I still don't know what the "right" way is in regards to diet and exercise, but I do know I'm highly motivated to make this change. I'm tired of being fat and out of shape. As for what's right, I'm sure I'll figure it out along the way.

Wish me luck, and please feel free to chime in with any opinions or concerns that you might have. I know I made it seem like I was tired of hearing opinions, but I know I have to keep my ears open to what others have to say. Otherwise, just say hi!

Thanks!