I wrote this column back in June. I wanted to share some articles on my weight-loss journey here as I approach the 100 pounds of weight loss. I am about 7 pounds away as of today and a few days after a not-so-good holiday weekend of eating a few too many sweets.
I will share a few more stories a long the way as we get to the finish line.
Here's the article that I published in the middle of June.
When I stepped on the scale Sunday morning, it read the same exact weight as the week before.
I wasn’t bummed. I wasn’t frustrated. Just more motivated.
Sometimes it just doesn’t happen. I thought I had a great week when it came to working out and the stuff I put in my body. But the scale doesn’t lie.
Since January 10, I have lost 63 pounds. It’s been an almost complete overhaul of what I eat and drink on a daily basis.
I cut out unhealthy gas station food, energy drinks that are high in sugar and I stopped snacking just to snack.
Those were the biggest issues I had that caused my weight to get to an all-time high back in January.
Some weeks have seen huge drops in weight. Some weeks showed minimal weight gain. My average weight loss per week has been three pounds with the largest being 11.2 pounds way back in Week 2 of the program.
When someone asks me what my secret has been, I don’t exactly know what to say. Most of things you can do to lose weight are common sense stuff. Most of us simply don’t want to do what is required to do.
I was one of those people for a long time. Because of the nature of my job, it was always easier to just stop at the gas station before I left town to cover a sporting event. Or grab something from there when I got back into town before I went to the office.
Now, when I go into those places, I buy diet pop, cottage cheese, yogurt, Muscle Milk and/or bananas.
I am pre-cooking food in advance so I can re-heat healthier options when it's convenient. Things like hard boiled eggs, chicken breasts and fish.
I have had a lot of salads in the past four months. But every salad I eat has chopped up chicken breasts, smashed up hard boiled eggs and croutons in it. The salad dressing is the only thing that is probably not the best but who eats salad without dressing?
The chicken breasts and fish have been awesome in the process. The BBQ sauce is not but again, you can’t get rid of everything.
And guess what, if you eat clean throughout the day, you are still able to eat things you ate before a few times a week. Like Mexican food.
I have tried to stay consistent through the process. Every morning, I wake up, make a protein shake with a banana and some ice for breakfast, eat tuna fish sandwiches or Greek yogurt or a chicken breast and egg salad for lunch and then eat whatever a lot of times for supper.
The next question I get involves the fitness part of the equation. I have always worked out. But there has been things I have done to add to the workouts.
My daughter and I do push-ups every day. It started with 25 per day in January and has built up to 50 every day in June. The number will keep growing and my daughter has been keeping me motivated and challenging me more every day.
It’s been a lot easier to run when you are less weight, too. I started out early in the process by doing sprint-type HIIT workouts on the treadmill to shred some weight.
It moved to timed three mile runs where I tried to better my time every workout. I also have learned through one of my favorite YouTube channels that walking can be just as effective as running. Especially if you put the treadmill at an incline.
The most surprising part of this process has been the fact that I was able to lose weight on the weeks of state wrestling and state track and field. And instead of riding in a golf cart to cover that sport, I chose to walk every time.
This process hasn’t been easy. It hasn’t always been fun. But it has been worth it. I feel great. And I was able to fulfill a promise I made to my daughter a few years back that I would get into better shape to be able to do more activities with her outside.
We all need a little motivation when it comes to weight loss. Besides doing what I told my daughter I would do, my biggest motivation was that I was ashamed at what I had become.
I’m still not quite where I want to be. But I'm no longer ashamed. That’s a great feeling.
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