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I really don't know how it happened, but in what seemed like the blink of an eye, I was suddenly 326lbs, of course it took almost 7yrs to get there. On Jan 27 2014 I hit rock bottom and finally saw myself for what I had become.
That day I decided that I was going to lose weight and become "me" again, not just for me, but for my one-and-only 19yr old daughter who was going to lose her daddy if I didn't man up, and get healthy.
If this journey were climbing Mt Everest, getting my head right was the equivalent of getting to within 100yds of the summit. It took almost a decade to do, but once it happened, it happened in minutes, maybe seconds.
For the 1st 90 days I limited my intake to 1200 calories a day. I educated myself on how many calories a 46yr old sedentary man needed per day to weigh 225lbs (my goal weight) and I made sure to eat 500 calories a day less than that.
I increased my activity level, and started to ride my city bike. I was worried about loose skin, so I started doing pushups, ok, a pushup lol as well as crunches and pullups, ok, 1/10th of a single pullup.
I lost about 30lbs and got into the 200s in about 45 days. I still didn't see any change in the mirror, and then on one normal day, I did! Once that happened, it was a vicious circle......... The more I saw change, the more intense my nutrition and exercise became.
I was now up to 3 sets of 6 pushups and 3 sets of 2 pullups! The weight just kept falling off, and my "dream" goal of 225lbs was suddenly within reach. On July 27 2014, I hit and exceeded my goal.
Since 1/27/14 I have ridden my mountain bike 1250 miles (as I type this) and now do 5 sets of 25 pushups with my feet elevated & using "Perfect Pushups", as well as 5 sets of 7 pullups and 300+ crunches, all 3x per week.
At the start of the journey I focused on calories only, and ate a lot of raw veggies. Now, I'm also focused on protein intake as well to help keep and build muscle so I don't have that loose skin, and so far, I have been very blessed not to have a problem with it.
I weigh each and every portion of food, at each and every meal now. I eat turkey, egg whites, beans, salmon, veggies, fruits, nuts, ect... When people ask what I now eat, I simply say "all the food that Dr.'s say we should eat". I haven't had red meat or a drop of milk (I love both) since 1/27/14.
I now am in maintenance mode, and eat 3,000+ calories per day, with 180-220g of protein. I don't keep track of fat grams, because I know with the food I'm eating, I'm more than good.
I don't consider this a diet, but rather a life style change. I will probably have to weigh my food and count calories for the rest of my life, but as hard as that sounds, it's really easy and adds maybe 3 minutes to my day............ If I don't have 3 minutes a day to spend towards my health, then I don't deserve to be healthy.
My sleep apnea is gone. My blood psi meds gone. My cholesterol meds gone. My GURD meds, gone.
I was given a second chance at life, and I had it in me the whole time, but I just couldn't access it, but once I did, it has been fairly easy.
Lastly, one of the tricks that helped in the early days when I was starving all day, was to tell myself that I was going to turn that physical feeling of huger, into love for my daughter.......... The hungrier I got, the more I loved my daughter. I didn't just "say" it, but I bought into it, and I did it.......... It was the difference in the early days.
For almost a decade, the 1st thing I thought about in the morning was losing weight, and it was the last thing I thought about before bed. And then, on just a normal day, I decided to really do it, and it saved my life.
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