50 Pounds in 5 months...

OK never thought I would post about weight loss in my life but here it goes. I have always had a very active lifestyle growing up sports in high school followed by 8 years in the Army. Life was good I could eat anything I wanted and I always stayed at my good weight of 195. Best weight in my life I could run all day and still feel as strong as an ox. A few years of college after the Army and a few years of Teaching middle school throw in wife having two kids and being the best damn cook i ever met and I was all of a sudden fat. No other way to put it I was 270 pounds my Blood Pressure as 150/110 and I was starting to get nose bleeds. I got real scared but did not tell anyone even my wife who is my best friend. The real shock came when I say a picture of me at my grandfathers funeral.....




I had gone from running half marathons to getting winded walking up a flight of stairs in about 10 years. My boss pulled me aside and told me the company I now work for was going to do a biggest loser boot camp after work and she thought I may want to join. I did join and in six weeks lost 20 pounds and won the contest. It was easy I just scanned what I ate and kept in my goals. I worked out and ate better totally cutting out the 3-4 sodas I drank a day and replacing them with water.

I made a pledge to be healthy and as soon as My Blood Pressure came down I started to donate blood. I just hit 1 Gallon donated in the last 5 months (Mainly Plasma and Platelets) . My diet consists of what ever I want to eat as long as I keep track of it and mark it down in my diary. My wife and I cook competitive BBQ so it is not like we are just eating brown rice and talapia 7 days a week. In the last 5 months I have eaten Pizza, BBQ, Sushi, Thai, Mexican, Greek, Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas Dinner, Deserts, about 100 McDonald's Ice Cream Cones, and donuts. The difference is I did not chose these items three or four times a day I maybe had them once or twice a week.

As far as working out at first my wife and I started by going on walks in the evening one mile here then two until we were able to walk about 10 miles at a time no problem. Most of our walks were about 3-4 miles in about an hour. I also did the boot camp for 6 weeks and I am still working strength at home. One thing that I enjoyed is Geocaching which reminded me of my army days of walking in the woods looking for way points. I could walk forever looking for these little hidden treasures and before I knew it I had burned 500+ calories just walking in the woods with my wife and kids. Before I knew it I had lost 40 pounds.



Now I have had a few set backs mainly when you are heavy and you work out you will have aches and pains. I pulled a calf muscle and also hurt my heel during this time period but just kept moving on. I am down 50 pounds and would still like to about 20 more and it will happen. I don't have a time frame on when I want to lose it by because it does not matter to me. When I hit my goal of about 200 pounds I will be back at my Army weight and lighter than my wife has ever known me. Oh and she has also lost 30 pounds so together we have lost 80.

Here I am today at 50 pounds lost....



This is my biggest piece of advice for anyone who feels lost is be HONEST with yourself. Don't fret the little numbers. Who cares if you burned 177 vs 160 calories the point is you got off the couch and did something. Don't if you eat it put it in your diary don't worry if you go over a few hundred calories every now and then. There were weeks I went over everyday if you are creating a deficit in calories no matter how small that deficit is you will lose weight. And last but now least this is not a race to see who loses the fastest this is a race to get healthy so yo can see your kids grow old.

P.S. Enjoy life and continue to enjoy food don't torture yourself.