Highway to Loss

Yesterday I was alone with my daughter WWE and we were talking about my latest Doctor’s visit. She told me she thinks training 2 hours a day is a bit much. She was saying the recommendation is at least 2.5 hours a week.

Is she right? Should I listen to my kids?

Everyone is different. When I'm writing about my training schedule, you have to take into account that I'm retired and I have plenty of time to train. In comparison with someone who spends every weekdays at work, I am more sedentary.

A big part of that 2 hours of training is walking. A the end of the day, the number of steps I take are higher than an average working person but the average person will have been more active in their “regular” day than I am (helping customers, stocking shelves, etc.).

I thought it was important to point that out just in case someone tried to duplicate my crazy schedule and got discouraged. We all have our own way and MY way might not be the best for anyone else. It might not even be the best for me, so let's learn from each other and let's keep in mind that the goal is to do more for ourselves. We are not in a competition.

Yesterday I might have sounded like I was not listening to my doctor’s “advice”. That is not the case. I listened the whole time, but he was not giving me advice he gave me a one way lecture. He never asked me how I achieved my weight loss, he never seemed concerned health wise that the weight loss could be from something wrong with me. He just gave me shit.

I do agree that losing about 40 pounds in 3 months is excessive for someone who didn't need to lose 150 pounds to start with.

My goal was to lose 65 pounds in a year which would have been an healthier loss. A lot of events happened and the plateau I was expecting didn't.

I stopped drinking alcohol which contains a lot of calories, just that can account for at least 10 of the 40 pounds I lost.

I went from a TV junkie to a walking junkie, probably 15 pounds disappeared with this change.

I stopped eating “unhealthy” snacks. It doesn't mean I stopped eating snacks but I used to sit in front of the TV and I might have consumed 400-500 calories in chips and chocolate. Now, I have yogurt, nuts and fruits. Probably another 10 pounds gone with this switch.

I eat less, and what I eat is healthier. It all starts with my breakfast, I was eating 2 white toasts with a thick layer of PB and a banana, I switched to yogurt, cereal and fruits. For breakfast I have increased the number of calories I eat but I consider it to be healthier than before so I'm really happy with this.

I removed refined sugar from my daily addiction. It was not even on my radar to do so when I started eating healthier but I'm so glad I did it.

In fact, with all the changes I implemented in my life, I'm surprised that I didn't lose even more!

When I first started, I was expecting to hit a “plateau” at one point, it hasn’t happened yet. Before when I would go on a “diet” I would always get to a plateau faster than my running pace. It's the first time I consistently lose weight week after week and it’s been going on for 15 weeks now. The biggest difference is I'm NOT on a diet, I changed my lifestyle.

Several times I mentioned that I think this journey is easy, it has not been a struggle. I truly don't feel like I'm starving or I don't have any cravings. I don't have headaches and I’m not light headed. I strongly feel like I'm giving everything to my body that it needs to live on, and that I’m not just eating barely enough to survive like lots of diets do.

My doctor said that statistically people who lose weight too fast gain it all back. I know he is right but he is talking about people who starve themselves on a drastic diet. This is not my case, I eat less, I eat healthier and I exercise.

I can assure you I am not out of my mind (well I have never been diagnosed as such). I have already started to work on maintaining weight even before reaching my original goal. I even started to modify what I eat to slow and stop my losses. It’s an “if the plateau doesn't come to me, I'll go to the plateau”, kind of strategy! My goal is to be healthier, whatever it takes, I'll go there. I don't feel like my own doctor is much help in that journey but at least he is there if I come across a health issue.

Getting healthy is a full time job, are you getting healthier?

Stay tuned, more changes after these messages...