How I Lost 40 Pounds
How I Lost 40 Pounds through a combination of measures. One of the first steps is having a strong “why”. Set a goal, have a strong why, and grit your teeth to begin your discipline.
I started at 203 pounds which was a surprise weight that I learned when visiting the doctor for my annual physical. I had no idea. I thought I was still around 185 or maybe had climbed to 190 over the holidays. I was shocked and upset with myself that I could let my seemingly healthy diet get so out of hand.
As a Certified Health Coach, Personal Trainer, and Surf Instructor, I thought my vegetarian diet and regular exercise were controlling my weight. However, with gyms closed and missing my three times a week visits, the carbohydrates from my vegetarian diet were in excess. I was thinking, the more the merrier, but excess carbohydrates, which are sugars are hustled to fat.
Starting the Journey
My goal became, as I had in a previous effort, to return to my graduating high school weight of 175 pounds. Years ago, I had lost 50 pounds to return to 175 pounds and I enjoyed the journey because I took it slow over 4 years.
In that process, I started eliminating my addictions, which was ice cream after dinner. I started eliminating all the bad foods and adding the healthy ones. Foods to eliminate are the high-density calorie foods. A sandwich at a fast-food outlet can have a thousand calories. Pastries, sweets, and desserts have a lot of calories and limited nutrition.
I started adding whole foods with limited calories and lots of nutrients. I purchased Jonny Bowden’s book The 150 Best Foods on Earth and begin to select a few. Kale was my first choice. That would be a roadblock for many. Slowly I started adding the best foods and eliminating the excess calorie foods.
I eliminated the sugar. I eliminated foods with white flour. This alone is a challenge. This alone will have a big impact on fat stores. I started drinking more water. Lyn Genet-Recitas in her book The Plan claims you must drink at least half your body weight in water ounces (a 200-pound person drinks 100 oz) Drinking more water will have an immediate impact on weight loss.
This time, I went to the Keto, Dr. Atkins models of high protein and low carbohydrates plus foods with good fat. We want the body to burn fat for fuel instead of sugars. This is the fastest way to reduce our waistline. Waistline fat is the most dangerous because it leaks toxins and is the primary precursor to chronic diseases.
Exercise is important but most people can’t lose weight on exercise alone. The reason is that building intensity takes time and as we build intensity in weight training or aerobics our metabolism starts compensating and reducing services to the rest of our body to conserve fat.
Fighting The Metabolism
Eliminating sugars and white flour plus drinking more water is a good start. Adding protein and eliminating carbohydrates is a good step. We want a moderate amount of fruits and vegetables and no pastries, pizza, white bread, sodas, energy drinks, or alcohol.
The first steps of discipline start yielding results. As we lose weight we then encounter the resistance of our metabolism. My goal in losing weight is to lose a half pound to a pound a day. We must weigh ourselves every morning. Genet-Recitas teaches us that if we gain a half pound or more. we ate something that was inflammatory to our system or didn’t drink enough water.
If we followed the correct regimen and didn’t lose weight, our metabolism is fighting back. Its job is to preserve life by allocating energy to the various systems that keep us functioning. In rapid weight loss, the metabolism fights back. The trick is to get sufficient nutrients, so we don’t suffer nor reduce our energy and make the metabolism work with us.
My next two steps were to engage in limiting consumption to a window called intermittent fasting. Everyone finds this effective. I created a 16-hour window by having breakfast at 8:30, lunch at noon, and dinner by 4:30. Now I have to limit the after-dinner eating because evening consumption is the worst for both weight and sugar control (if you have high blood sugar)
The next step was to add a meal replacement shake for breakfast. This extends the fasting window to 19 hours while limiting calories. Each time I added a step like intermittent fasting and then a meal replacement shake, I defeated the metabolic resistance without starving my body.
Setting New Goals
As I progressed, it became easier. I lost my food cravings. I lost driving appetite. My life did not center around food. I enjoyed being lighter and the way my clothes fit. As an active exerciser, I felt my oxygen uptake was improving. I like to bike, hike, and surf. My pop ups became easier as I got lighter.
I decided that I could easily hit 175 pounds and why not go for 168 pounds. When I started, I was 28 on the Body Mass Index, which is overweight. 30 is obese. 168 pounds for my height is 23, which is between the 18 and 24.9 for normal weight. Calculate your BMI on this calculator
I lost 25 pounds in 90 days. That was a little more than 10% of my original body weight. 168 pounds was about a 16% reduction of my body weight. When I hit 168 pounds, I though why not go for 160 pounds. The regimen was now my lifestyle. I enjoyed it and it was easy. I enjoyed the challenge of maintaining it and using it to reach a new goal. The challenge became part of my lifestyle.
I hit the 160-pound mark in 5 months. I thought this is sufficient. It was 20% reduction of my original weight. In the process, I was exercising with both aerobics and some resistance training. My favorite muscle building routines are pushups, squats, and dead lifts. These utilize the largest muscle groups in our body.
Maintaining the Lost Weight
The final challenge is maintaining the lost weight. We might have the desire to let go since we achieved our goal. The problem is we have greatly reduced our metabolic rate in the process. Any extra calories will be quickly absorbed and stored.
This is when exercise becomes more crucial. In my process of losing weight, I was also building my exercise capacity. When not teaching surf lessons in season, I have more time. I built my bike riding and hiking to longer duration. I now can bike for 3 hours and hike for 2 hours.
I like to engage most days. Not everyone has this time, but we have to fit in regular exercise to maintain our lost weight as well as stick to all the routines we utilized to get there. Now I am enjoying finding the foods that I enjoy and that help me maintain my weight. I like variety, like everyone, so I experiment with foods that will keep me energetic, support my athletic endeavors, and not add weight.
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