WEIGHT FOR IT is my blog, dedicated to me facing the truth. And the truth is that I didn't put on all these extra pounds overnight. Therefore, I must put in the work and be patience enough to wait for it; the "it" being the results I desire.
So it was that, the evening prior, I decided to set the realistic, manageable goal of dropping 2 pounds per week over the next 20 weeks to get to my target weight of 215lbs. When I think back to my college days, around the time I met my beautiful wife, my weight fluctuated between 205 and 220lbs. I was pretty thin then, and wore a size 36/37 pants. Some twelve years later, I've grown to where I am today. I now fit into a 44; down from a 46 in December. And much of this is owed to two months of P90X and over a year of triathlon training. Even still, I haven't been monitoring my daily caloric intake or the types of foods that I've was putting into my body. Truth be told, I couldn't do either, because I never educated my on the basics of nutrition. So, here I am, armed with the desire, patience, and vision to achieve what I've dreamed about for too many years...to make a lifestyle change that will yield the physique I've longed for.
Step 1: I contacted two fellow triathletes who successfully lost their targets weights of 80+ pounds over several months. Why? Because you should always model those who've already done what you aim to do. No need to reinvent the wheel right?
Step 2: I actually listened to what they had to say and even took copious notes from one of their websites (Ed Huff). What good is a conversation or IM if it goes into one ear and out the other?
Step 3: I did the math to determine my Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR), i.e., how many calories I'll burn by doing nothing but sitting on my bum all day. I then used a multiplier to add a few extra calories because of my daily workouts. I substracted those calories for rest days when I won't work out. (See Step. 4 below)
Step 4: I decided to decrease my BMR by 500 calories and designed a meal plan to allow me to meet these daily intake goals. The plan: intake less than I burn; workout; and realize the results. Grant it, I'll have to play with the numbers as the weeks progress, but I'm off to a better start than I have been with any fad diet over the years.
Step 5: I went to Wal-Mart and bought a pocket planner that runs from August 2011- August 2012. Why? Because it in I will track every meal and snack I put into my body. This will help me build the "habit of healthy eating." It's one thing to dump a bunch of food into your mouth and another altogether to be able to look back and read exactly what you've done to yourself. It adds a helpful dose of accountability because I won't want to write down any bad meals I've ingested and I'll think twice before eating bad bc I'll know that it will need to be memorialized in ink that day.
Step 6: The notes I took from my buddy's website were about Macro nutrients. In 1 hour, I learned more about reading labels than I could have ever imagined. I felt really good yesterday as I was able to explain the disadvantages of consuming too many artificial sweeteners to my neighbor. I learned it. I applied it. I'm better because of it!
Step 7: I told the world. I've always known that sharing your goals with others forces you to be accountable for meeting them because people will, inevitably, ask you how you're coming along on the path of meeting them. Because of this, I've never shared weight loss goals in the past. Well, that changed Thursday morning. I posted my plan to get to 215lbs by 27 December 2011 on Facebook and something amazing happened...I got so much support I was besides myself. Friends starting sharing attaboys, personal weight loss quests, and even recipes. How about that? The people I feared would be the most judgmental actually formed my support team. I know I'm off onto the right path now because, much like finishing law school and passing the bar exam, I feel like I owe the people who are cheering me on. Just like that, my personal weight loss project; my lifestyle change; my total body makeover, has become about more than just me.
The hard work has begun and I couldn't be more excited. I gonna meet my goal by making simple, yet vital, daily choices:
(1) Eat smart
(2) Workout and
(3) Weight for it!
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