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specializing in
medicine for the whole family |
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| My Story |
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I
frequently get asked: “Why did you do it? You weren’t
that fat.” The answer is; I was that fat! Most people
don’t believe that I was at one point 217 pounds. I also
get a lot of surprised looks when I admit to losing 70+
pounds. As you might imagine, the very next question
from most is: “How did you do it? What drug did you
take?” Honestly, I did it the hard way. I cut my
calories and starting exercising regularly. Viola, here
I am today, one year later and still holding…
Now back
to the why question. First of all, I was too fat. 217
pounds was way too fat for me. I had finally toppled
into the official obese category. I had also got a real
awakening when I checked my cholesterol last October and my
triglycerides were, well, sky high! I guess weekly trips
to the BBQ place downtown was a little too much for my
triglycerides. I’m sad to say it took a reading of 510
to get my attention. I’m happy to say that as of
September 2008 my triglycerides are now 100! And no, I’m
still not taking any medications.
So now
to what everyone really wants to know: “How did you do
it?” My first step was cutting calories. I have looked
back at some of my typical meals and calculated their
calorie and fat content and realize that I was consuming
2000+ calories on a regular basis and that doesn’t count
trips to Andy’s Frozen Custard. A typical diet for me
started with a quick stop at Hardee’s on the way to work
for a biscuit and gravy, hash brown, and orange juice.
Another regular stop for me was Casey’s for a few
donuts. Lunch was usually a quarter pounder, fries, and
a coke = 1320 calories! How about an order of
breadsticks and a personal pan pizza = 1450 calories!
Let’s not even talk about the jumbo pork BBQ sandwich
and huge pile of fries every Friday. As you can see, I
was consuming almost all of the daily recommended 1800
calories in one meal, it’s a wonder I wasn’t 2000
pounds! I’ll spare you some dinner examples, but let’s
just say it would be similar to my lunches. I obviously
had some changes to make.
So what
do I do now? Breakfast is typically a 90 calorie
breakfast bar or 100 calorie pack of muffins. Lunch is
now a turkey sandwich, a low fat/low calorie,
single serve macaroni and cheese (220 calories), or a
single serve hamburger helper (210 calories). Dinner is
now much more reasonable whether I eat at home or go
out. The most important thing I did was take what I
normally ate and cut it in half. We also made a few
simple changes around our house like changing to low fat
mayo for my turkey sandwich or going with butter
substitute. We also found some low calorie options
through weight watchers and believe it or not Schwans.
The most important thing to note is that I still eat
what I normally ate. I still eat pizza, hamburgers,
steak, and a lot of chicken. I don’t eat salads! The
change I made was only eating 2 slices of pizza, or half
the cheeseburger, etc. I bring home a lot of doggie bags
now. I now eat about 1200-1800 calories per day. Oh ya,
I still go to Andy’s now and again too! My secret to
success in keeping the weight has been that I still eat
normal foods, just a lot less of them!
Now for
the second half of the story; I have also increased my
exercise. I went from pretty much my only exercise being
the walk from the couch to the refrigerator to running
anywhere from 4-8 miles per day! Now of course I didn’t
start out running that far, but built up to it quickly.
I realize that not everyone can run that far for one
reason or another, but it is very easy to make excuses
as why people can’t do any exercise. If you don’t find
something you can do, don’t expect to lose any weight.
Weight loss is easy if you think about it; you have to
burn more calories than you eat. The best way you do
that is to eat less and burn more…see simple! Want
proof, look at my pictures, 70 pounds…poof…in 4 months.
I’ve
been successful at keeping it off now for 8 months. My
whole family has made the commitment to stay fit and
trim. That makes it a lot easier. You have to have the
support of those around you to make getting the pounds
off and keeping them off successful. April and I
frequently split meals when we eat out and cook less
when we eat in. We also support each other in making
sure we have free time to exercise. See, it’s easy to
lose weight! Here are a few tools to help, including
some websites and a handout I put together for my
patients. http://www.deliciousdecisions.org/ http://www.mayoclinic.com/findinformation/healthylivingcenter/index.cfm
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