This all started
Thanksgiving 2010 when I got was having problems wearing a pair of my nice
dress jeans that was a size 46 and they were even to tight. And I was also
wanting to wear a very nice western shirt that the snaps kept unsnapping and
that shirt was a 2X. I made up my mind that was it I was going to lose the
weight. I dusted off my scales that I had not been on in who knows when and
almost maxed the damn thing out, I weight a whopping 285 pounds. To go a lot
farther back I will say that when I went in to Navy boot camp way back just
after my 21st birthday I weighed 167 pounds and was measured as 5 ft. 11 in.
and a waist of 28 inches. When I finished boot camp I was measured as 6 ft. 1
in. and weight 210 with a waist of 33 inches. To me I had a fat belly and was
not in as good a shape as before going into boot camp. My 8 years in the Navy
was always sating a work bench or a desk in a class room. I was not made to
exercise much at all. By the time I got out of the Navy at the age of 29 I was
weighing 230 pounds and my blood pressure was marginally high. Within a year
after that I was taking medications for my blood pressure.
I failed back in love
with the bicycle and was riding at least on the weekends with my son. We started
riding organized rides. And was doing 100 miles on Saturday or
Sunday regularly. My weight never did really drop very much I remember
weighing around 225 to 235 all that time. And even with that I was never able
to get off the blood pressure medications. I believe that was mostly due to
eating habits. My wife and I were both working and we were very busy, we ate
out most of the time and when we did eat at home we made hamburger helper most
of the time. Then in 1991 while riding my bike up a really steep hill I made a
huge mistake and missed a gear and almost destroyed my manhood. And I
stopped riding my bicycle and even gave it away. I did not start riding a bike
again until Oct 2011 when I got my new bike that I am riding now. I do not ride
as much as I would like but I do love to ride and feel so free when I am
riding. My issue is that I need to ride more and also I need to learn to rest
and just how far I can ride without pushing myself too far.
Now to the plan I
started with January of 2011 was the following. I was not on a diet. I was on a
journey to a better life style. I was not going to be in a rush, it was going
to take me the rest of my life to get to where I wanted to be and to stay
there. I was not going to stop eating what I loved to eat. I had to learn to
eat the correct amount and to exercise the correct amount. I was going to have
to learn how to balance work, family and my needs for my health. This is an ongoing
process that I have to modify almost daily, weekly, and monthly.
Now to what I have
learned. That our bodies are always changing. What we can eat today is not what
we can eat tomorrow sometimes. We have to learn to listen to our bodies, it
will tell us what it needs. We have to be selfish and do what we need to do for
ourselves everyday of our lives. A healthy body is a happy body most of the
time. We need strength, endurance and meditation to balance ourselves for the
rest of our lives. So, we cannot have a on track exercise plan. I know that is
something that I did to myself and I have learned that does not work. We have
to eat real food. Depending on diet pills, or diets of any kind in general is
setting yourself up for failure. Also something else that I have learned that
is the BMI chart is not what you want to follow, it is not how large your waist
or butt is. It is about are you healthy and fit. Ever body is different. We all
have a different shape. If you to make a goal that should be the correct way
find out what is a good percent of fat range for your body and make it a goal
to get into that range. Also schedule your exercise on your calendar and make
it as important as keeping a date with your partner or business client.
Ok to sum this up, set a
reasonable goal. That goal should be a healthy percent of body fat. Have a plan
to get there. Schedule your exercises just as you do your business appointments.
Eat real foods. Stay away for special diets. Make time for yourself. Even if
you are called selfish for doing so. It will work and you will be a healthier
and fit person.
For the ones that will ask, I now can wear 34 jeans, and a size large shirt.
