How I Lost 27 Pounds

This post explains why and how I decided to lose weight, in addition to, the results of losing the weight and how to keep it off.

Why I Did It.
My dad was diagnosed with diabetes. This is a life-changing illness that requires you to drastically alter your diet and rely on insulin shots for the rest of your life. I’ve educated myself more on the subject in an effort to help my dad with his diet.

I have helped my dad with his grocery shopping. We reduced his sugar intake substantially. The result was 20 pounds of weight loss and less reliance on insulin. His biggest vice was pop. We’ve introduced him to Crystal Light. I know. I know. This is full of aspartame. Baby steps. This is better than sugar. Especially with diabetes.

Fat on the belly for a man puts him at much higher risk of developing: diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, high triglycerides, low levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol.

I’ve been told that high blood pressure and heart disease are common in my family. I also know that lack of education regarding nutrition and poor choices are just as common.

I’m now constantly educating myself to offer help and guidance to my dad and to continue a healthier lifestyle for myself.

I have to take a moment here and commend my wife. She has done an outstanding job making sure our kids eat healthy food. She also educates them and makes sure they understand the importance of making eating healthy and limiting sugar a lifestyle.

My wife has always led a healthy lifestyle and is great at moderating with food and exercise. I am typically more extreme, but I’m getting better at maintenance.

Thank you, babe.

How I Did It.
I lost 27 pounds by changing my habits and sticking to a plan. I decided that for ten weeks, I would completely cut out carbohydrates and eat natural foods. I worked out on a regular basis while also watching my diet.

The Results.
The results were not at all what I expected. The weight kept coming off. I started off at 213 pounds. The heaviest I’d ever been. It’s interesting how and where fat accumulates on your body. With my clothes on, I appeared to look “normal.” With my shirt off, I could see lots of fat accumulating on my lower back and abdomen.

My plan was to get my weight down to 195. At the end of 10 weeks I was down to 186. At that point I decided to maintain my weight. I didn’t have my body fat checked, but I’m pretty sure I gained muscle weight during the 10 weeks.

I am now wearing size 33 waist jeans with a belt. Before I started, I was wearing 36’s and they were becoming tight.

What I Experienced.
Boundless energy. I felt like I was in high school again. People worried that I wouldn’t have the energy from being malnourished. It was the opposite! My body was getting everything it needed and nothing it didn’t need.

What I Ate.
Salmon. Chicken breast. Tuna. Eggs. Vegetables. Cheese.

Some vegetables are more starchy than others and, therefore, have more carbs than others. Avoid corn; carrots are higher in carbs due to the starch..

My go-to meal was: a can of tuna and a bag of steamer veggies. This was usally my lunch and cost no more than $3.20.

For breakfast, I mostly ate omelets. We did find a Special K Protein cereal that had more protein and less carbs. This did require me to drink a little milk. Sometimes, I had to if I had too many eggs that week.

For dinner, my wife already does an awesome job at preparing nutritious meals for our family. During my 10 week phase, I would avoid bread and pasta in our dinner meals.

What Not To Eat.
Bread is the WORST. Whole grain bread is fine, but be sure it’s real whole grain bread and not dyed-brown refined-flour bread. Beer is like liquid bread. Fruit is full of sugar. Regular yogurt has lots of sugar. Try greek yogurt. Beef jerky can be deceiving. Look closely at the sugar content of it. Milk has TONS of sugar!

Basically, check the carb content of everything you eat for the first few weeks. You’ll probably be surprised at how many carbs there are in many of the usual items you eat.

Should You Exercise?
Yes. It’s good for your heart. It strengthens the heart muscle and improves the flow of blood to the heart. Exercise is also great for your mind. I think much clearer after a hard workout. Whenever I’m done with a workout, I have such a feeling of accomplishment. It’s a great way to start the day on a positive note.

Exercise also does a couple of other things. It burns calories; it makes you hungry. It’s easy to break even when you burn some calories, then replace them because you are hungry. It’s much more difficult to get rid of calories versus consuming them. After exercising, make sure you take in “smart” calories. If I work out at lunchtime, I’ll come home and have a protein shake. Dumb calories would be eating a chocolate shake and taking in 100+ grams of sugar.

I did 2 - 3 exercises per week. I LOVE group fitness classes at the gym. My most favorite is boxing. This is an intense cardio workout that burns nearly 1000 calories in one hour.

I would occasionally go for a run or play pick-up basketball. I would also do one to two intense weight training workouts per week. I cover all major muscle groups during these workouts. This helped to shape my body when all the fat went away.

Convenience.
Fast food is convenient. It’s much easier to run out and get a value meal while you are out running errands. This happens most often at lunch time. It turns out it’s even more convenient to buy food ahead of time and bring it with you to work or have it on hand while you are at home.

I frequently peruse the frozen veggies aisle looking for a great deal on the steamer veggies that I like. When I see a good deal, I’ll snag up 5-6 bags of the veggies and store them in the work freezer. This helps cut down the total cost of lunch per day.

What I Learned.
I learned you can skin a cat hundreds of different ways. You can count calories if you want. You can count carbs if you want. You can decide to not count anything. Education is key. The more you learn about different foods, the easier it gets. People tend to burn out because they try to keep a written log of what they eat and be precise when counting calories. If you miss a day, you feel like you’ve failed and it’s easier to just say: screw it, I’m done.

Sometimes you need to take extreme measures to get where you need to be.

An airline pilot will ascend quickly to get to the proper cruising altitude. Get it?

I decided to completely cut out sugar and starch for 10 weeks. This included fruit and any products with flour. Whole grains were fine, but hard to come by. There’s tons of deception in advertising when it comes to true whole grains.

Some consider that extreme. I see it as getting to a maintainable level quickly and healthily.

Controlling the urge to crush a bag of chips was difficult for the first couple of days. I made sure to have non/low-carb snacks around when I had an urge. Some of things I had on hand were: cheese sticks, almonds.

Consistency is key. Simplicity is essential.

On most days, at work, I would eat a bag of vegetables that I steam in the microwave and a can of tuna or a chicken breast.

What helped me most was going as basic as I could. This means: nothing processed and everything as natural as it can be. Natural being: vegetables and a piece of meat. I know most chicken shouldn’t be considered natural with how it’s grown, but hey, I can’t afford “organic”, so that had to do.

Getting To Automatic.
This is the point where you can go on autopilot. Through research, trial and repetition, you’ve figured out what works and what doesn’t. In this case, I no longer had to look at packaging and count carbs. I knew exactly what I was getting and what I needed. Keeping things simple helps. I have a select number of foods that I’ll use for my meals. Sometimes I mix and match, but, for the most part, I stick to that core group of items that I know works.

Maintenance.
Maintenance has been fun. I now consistently weigh around 190. I have been able to experiment with preparing other foods and I’ve reintroduced fruits and other vegetables in. It can be easy to fall off the wagon, just like it can be with any other diet. I’ve decided that I’ll stay fairly strict with 2 out of 3 meals during the day. Maybe I’ll have eggs for breakfast, tuna and vegetables for lunch, then splurge on some bread during dinner. Following this has kept me at my current weight.

Everything needs maintenance.

Cars need maintenance. Your home needs maintenance. Finances need maintenance. There are plenty of areas in my life where I need to apply the maintenance principles I’m now talking about. I’m working on that.

In order to maintain good/great health, you must stay consistent with diet and exercise. Sometimes, to get to a maintainable level quickly, you have to have extra focus.

Conclusion.
Many of the topics I have covered deserve more attention. I’ll post more to the blog that gets into specifics of diabetes, working out, diet, etc.

I don’t claim to be an expert, but I do know that when you give something focused attention and stick with it, you will become more knowledgeable and be able to speak about what works and what doesn’t.

My goal here is to share my knowledge and hopefully help others with my simple solution.

Now, go get yourself a can of tuna and enjoy!